The Point Where Lost Souls Gather
by presea221
Summary: When the wielders of the Millennium Items are targeted, Marik is forced to flee for his life. And things become even more complicated with the return of someone that he had never thought he would see again. With the pharaoh back in the afterlife, Marik has to rely on himself to fix things. But time is running out for him... (Takes place after the anime ends.)
1. Chapter 1

It was a beautiful, quiet morning in Domino City, Japan. During these early hours, most people might have been having a hard time dragging themselves out of bed for work or school. But for Marik Ishtar, this was the opposite. He had spent a good portion of his childhood in Egypt living underground, with no access to the outside world. Back then, Marik had been forced to follow his family's ancient tradition of serving as a tomb keeper and guarding the secrets of a pharaoh who had lived thousands of years ago. But ever since that part of his life had ended years ago, Marik had never once stopped appreciating the beauty of the sun. He always got up early every morning to watch the sunrise; eternally grateful to not have to live in the darkness anymore.

Marik stood in front of the upstairs bathroom mirror in his house. His lavender eyes examined his reflection in the mirror one more time before he headed downstairs for breakfast. Marik's long, platinum blonde hair contrasted sharply with his dark skin.

 _Maybe I should get my hair cut just a little shorter. Just to make it easier to put my earrings on, at least._ Marik thought to himself skeptically.

A knock on the bathroom door interrupted Marik from his thoughts.

"Marik? Your alarm clock has been going off for the past 10 minutes now." The voice of Marik's older brother, Odion, came through the doorway.

Marik hurriedly opened the door. "I can't believe I did it again!" Marik said in frustration as he rushed to his bedroom to shut off the blaring alarm that he could now hear clearly. Even though he always managed to wake up well before his alarm went off every morning, Marik still couldn't help setting the alarm just in case he somehow overslept.

Odion smiled in amusement. "Well, I imagine that you're afraid of jinxing yourself and oversleeping if you don't set it." He said.

"Who's to say it wouldn't happen? Stranger things have!" Marik joked.

"Quite true." Odion agreed as he headed downstairs. But Marik couldn't help but notice that he had said this with an edge of seriousness in his voice. Even though Marik and Odion weren't related by blood, they had been close ever since Odion had been taken into the Ishtar family by Marik's now-deceased parents years ago. Marik could tell whenever something was troubling his brother, and it sounded like this might be something serious. Trying not to dwell too much on it, Marik headed downstairs for breakfast.

"Good morning, Marik." Marik's older sister Ishizu greeted him as he sat down at the breakfast table.

"Good morning, sister. Did the newspaper already get here?" Marik questioned as he sat down with a bowl of cereal.

Ishizu and Odion exchanged a troubled look. "Yes, it has. And you're probably going to want to look at the front page article." Ishizu said. She then handed the paper to Marik.

Marik read the article quietly. It explained how Maximillion Pegasus, the president of Industrial Illusions and creator of the popular card game, Duel Monsters, had suddenly fallen into a coma after what looked like an apparent robbery attempt by a group of unknown intruders. But there were parts to the story that didn't add up. After breaking into Pegasus's castle, they had somehow managed to overpower his elite security team. But the guards themselves had no recollection of being attacked at all. They had simply woken up to find Pegasus unconscious. Nothing had been stolen. The only proof that there had even been any intruders in the first place was the fact that the castle's security cameras had showed a group of hooded men entering and leaving the premises. But the footage of what had happened while they were inside the castle seemed to have been erased.

Marik felt his stomach tighten with dread as he looked at the article again. This situation looked all-too familiar to him.

"Were the doctors able to determine what caused Pegasus to fall into a coma like that?" Marik asked, even though he felt like he already knew the answer to his question.

"They don't believe that there was anything wrong with him physically. But the doctors suspect that whatever Pegasus saw could have shocked him into his condition through fear." Odion said.

"However, judging from what we have seen before, I think it's pretty obvious that Pegasus has lost his soul. I may not be able to see the future anymore, but I have a feeling that a dark force is at work here. We need to be careful." Ishizu warned.

"I agree. This is like Battle City all over again…" Marik said. He had hoped that that part of their lives was over, but it looked like that had been wishful thinking.

xxx

After he had finished breakfast and said goodbye to his siblings, Marik left for Domino High School. It was easy for him to arrive there early on his motorcycle, and Marik always enjoyed talking to his friends before class started. After locking his bike by the side of the building, Marik went into the school. He ignored the flirtatious smiles and giggles that most of the female students who passed by directed at him. Ever since Marik had started high school here after moving from Egypt, he had attracted more than his fair share of attention from the female student population. But the way that the girls reacted to him was unnerving. They never seemed interested in having any real conversations with Marik, preferring instead to take pictures of him with their cell phones, or to openly converse with their friends about him as if he weren't even there. Marik felt like a museum exhibit around them, and it just made him feel more uncomfortable than anything else.

After entering his classroom, Marik sat down his usual seat next to his regular group of friends: Yugi Mutou, Tea Gardner, Joey Wheeler, Tristan Taylor, and Ryou Bakura.

"Marik, good morning!" Yugi said brightly.

"Good morning, Yugi! Have you heard about what happened to Pegasus!? It was in the paper this morning." Marik said.

The spiky haired teen turned serious. "I did. But I don't understand how this happened. I thought that we had put all of this behind us after we said goodbye to Atem…" Yugi said quietly.

Yugi had once possessed an Egyptian artifact called the Millennium Puzzle. The puzzle had housed the spirit of an ancient pharaoh, Atem, who had become Yugi's alter ego for a long time. But to Marik, Atem had been the one responsible for the way his family had been forced to live for generations. Hiding away underground to guard the key to the pharaoh's lost memories while they awaited his return.

For a long time, Marik had been hell-bent on killing the pharaoh in order to avenge his family. This had even led him to organize a group of criminal card thieves known as the Rare Hunters in order to find the legendary God cards so that he could defeat Atem in a duel and kill him. At the time, Marik had believed that his quest for revenge was all that really mattered. He had almost killed Yugi and his friends during the Battle City Duel Monsters tournament. Eventually, Marik realized that he had been wrong. The pharaoh had not been responsible for everything that had happened to him and his family, including the murder of his father. Marik still couldn't believe that Yugi and his friends had forgiven him for everything that he had put them through. Even after he had given Atem the secret to his lost memories and helped him to return to the afterlife, Marik still felt like he hadn't done enough to redeem himself.

"I don't know, Yuge. I feel like weird stuff is always a part of our lives now! We're like magnets for it!" Joey joked proudly.

"I think that you're the only true weirdness magnet around here, Joey!" Tristan said with a smile.

"I wonder how those people were able to get past Pegasus' security team? It would probably take a power equal to that of the Millennium Items to pull something like that off…" Bakura mused thoughtfully.

The seven Millennium Items were all ancient Egyptian artifacts that each held a power of their own. Marik himself had been the owner of one of them. The Millennium Rod had allowed him to control others' minds, and Marik could feel the guilt eat away at him when he thought of all of the horrible things he had forced people to do for him while he had had it. But the Millennium Items had been laid to rest; buried deep underground after Yugi had won a duel against the pharaoh, opening the way to the afterlife for him. And even if the items were still around, they could only be used by the ones who were chosen to wield them. Whatever was happening now was due to something else entirely. Something terrible…

" **Heh, heh, heh."**

Marik practically jumped out of his chair. The laugh that he could've sworn that he had just heard shook him to the core. His eyes darted around the classroom frantically, but he found nothing.

 _It can't be! It must've been my imagination. My mind is playing tricks on me because of what happened to Pegasus._ Marik thought to himself nervously.

Yugi and his friends were looking at Marik with concerned expressions.

"Marik, are you all right? You look like you've just seen a ghost!" Tea said.

"I'm fine. Sorry for scaring you guys like that. All of this just brought up some bad memories. That's all." Marik reassured everyone.

Yugi looked at Marik sympathetically. "I understand. But if you ever want to talk about anything, we're here for you, Marik. Okay?" Yugi said.

"Thanks, Yugi." Marik said gratefully. He knew that he didn't deserve their friendship, but Marik still appreciated it all the same.

"Well, aside from the way all of this is messing with our heads by givin' us a bad trip down memory lane, we got another problem! Now that Pegasus is takin' a dirt nap, who is gonna design new cards for Duel Monsters!? This could be the end of the game!" Joey said anxiously.

"I don't think that you need to worry about that, Joey. I'm sure that Industrial Illusions has specialists who can take over management for all of that if needs be." Marik reassured Joey.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. I'd hate to see what would happen to rich boy if that wasn't the case!" Joey said with a smirk.

Marik glanced in the direction that Joey was pointing at. Seto Kaiba was the president of Kaiba Corporation, one of the biggest game companies in the world. As usual, Kaiba was reading a book and appeared to have no interest in anyone else around him at school. Kaiba had been Atem's constant rival in Duel Monsters. Ever since Atem had left, Kaiba had become even more distant than usual. He had even stopped making his occasional rude remarks to Yugi and the others, or as he referred to them: "The Geek Squad". Kaiba had completely dropped off of the dueling grid, and seemed to be focusing solely on running his company. Marik was pretty sure that Kaiba wouldn't even bother coming to school if it wasn't required by law. But he couldn't help wondering what Kaiba thought about the incident with Pegasus.

xxx

Marik sat at his desk while he worked on his homework. It was about seven at night, and Ishizu and Odion were still at work over at the Domino City Museum. Pretty soon, they would be home with dinner, and Marik wanted to finish his schoolwork before then.

" **Hello, Marik."** The voice made Marik leap out of his chair in fright. His eyes widened in terror as he gazed frantically around the room.

The voice laughed in amusement. **"Surprised to hear from me? You should know by now that I was never truly gone. After all, we both know that I exist because of you."** He said.

"This is impossible! We got rid of you! You shouldn't be able to come back!" Marik shouted.

Marik's dark side, Yami Marik, was a split personality that had been born out of Marik's own hatred after he had undergone the cruel ritual of having the secret of the pharaoh's memories carved into his back by his own father. Yami Marik was nothing more than a psychotic madman who had taken over Marik's body in order to cause as much destruction and suffering as he possibly could. He had killed Marik's father and attempted to kill Ishizu and Odion as well. And years later, after Marik had once again lost control during Battle City, Yami Marik had turned the tournament into a living hell, torturing his opponents by using his dark magic to turn their duels into sadistic Shadow Games that had almost cost them their lives. Yugi and Atem had managed to defeat him in a duel, banishing him into the darkness and allowing Marik to reclaim his body again.

" **That's funny! I don't recall you being able to do anything back then! We both know that it was the pharaoh who really defeated me. And he could've done it while destroying both of us in the process if he had really wanted to. But now, he is gone, and there is no to save you, little Marik!"** Yami Marik taunted.

"How were you able to return!? Answer me!" Marik demanded shakily.

" **What's wrong? Are you afraid? You should be. You should've known that I would come back one day! Let me guess. You thought that you would be able to just go on with your pathetic little life and live happily ever after?"** Yami Marik said.

"SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP! YOU'RE NOT REAL!" Marik shouted in agony.

Yami Marik laughed. **"Oh, I assure you that I am very real, Marik! And mark my words, once I regain control of this body again, you will pay dearly for your defiance against me during Battle City! I will kill you and everyone you care about, one by one. That is a promise! So you'd better enjoy what little time you have left while you still can!"** Yami Marik threatened.

"NO! GO AWAY! PLEASE, JUST GO AWAY!" Marik begged desperately with tears in his eyes while his dark side laughed in delight. He couldn't believe that he was reliving this nightmare all over again.

Finally, after several minutes of silence, Marik pulled himself up from the floor. He had been curled up in a fetal position with his eyes screwed shut while he had waited for the voice to fade away. He still couldn't believe what had just happened. Was it possible that it had all just been in his head? It wouldn't have been the first time. Ever since Battle City had ended, Marik had been plagued with almost constant nightmares about his dark side returning. But somehow, this felt different. It had been too real.

Marik tried to calm himself down and think rationally. If his dark side really had returned, how had it happened? After Yami Marik had murdered their father, it had been Odion who had managed to keep him sealed away. After Marik had gone through the tomb keeper's initiation, Odion had performed a similar ritual by carving markings on his own face that resembled the ones on Marik's back. It was a sign of loyalty. Marik hadn't felt as alone as he had before after he saw that Odion had chosen to endure the same type of pain that he had gone through. It was that sense of compassion and loyalty that had acted as a seal against Marik's dark side for so long. But after Odion had fallen into a coma during Battle City, Yami Marik had returned to power again until Yugi and the pharaoh had banished him during their duel.

 _But if he's really back, does that mean that something happened to Odion!?_ Marik thought to himself in fear.

After nervously rummaging around his room for five minutes, Marik was able to locate his cell phone. With shaking fingers, he texted Odion a quick message: **I thought we could have a duel after dinner. We haven't had one in a while! What do you say?** Marik had made the text sound as normal as he could.

After a few minutes that seemed like hours to Marik, Odion finally texted him back: **Sure, I'd like that. But you'd better be ready, because I've made a new strategy since last time!**

Marik sighed in relief after seeing Odion's response. At least the people he cared about were safe. But he still couldn't figure out how Yami Marik had managed to return, or how he would try to stop him. After all, Marik knew very well that his dark side did not need him in order to exist in his body. But for now, Marik decided on not telling Ishizu and Odion about this. Nothing had really happened, and he didn't want them to worry about him for nothing. But somehow, Marik had a horrible feeling that this was only the beginning of his problems…

 **Author's note: This is my first Yugioh story ever, and I decided to write one about Marik because...well, why not? He is awesome! Oh, and because he's my favorite. XD I know that I summarized a lot of things that people probably already know about in this chapter, but I feel like I need to do that whenever I write the first one or two chapters of a new story. It just helps me get started on things more easily, that's all.**


	2. Chapter 2

Students streamed out of the school building at Rintama High School as the final bell rang. Kelda Hale brushed her shoulder length navy blue hair away from her face as she hurriedly jogged past the swarms of students. Her pale gray eyes looked up at the school clock momentarily to check the time again. She had exactly half an hour to catch the train back home.

"Hey, Kelda! Over here!" Kelda's best friend Amber called out.

With a reluctant sigh, Kelda headed towards Amber. As much as she liked talking to her best friend, Amber had a bad habit of rambling on for far too long whenever Kelda needed to be somewhere in time.

"Okay, Amber. Five minutes only. You know I have to make it home in time for work." Kelda said. But she couldn't help smiling a little as she said it.

"I know, I know! At least you have a cool job, though! I'd rather do what you do than slave away at the restaurant, washing people's dirty dishes for hours. I swear, my hands are going to smell like that awful lemon dishwashing liquid forever!" Amber said dramatically.

"Are you kidding? I'd switch places with you any day! I basically get paid for lying to people! It's awful!" Kelda complained.

"Oh, come on! I think customers know that it's just for fun. They like it!" Amber insisted.

"Maybe so. But I will be glad when I can put it behind me someday." Kelda said.

"That's right. First we graduate, and then head off to college and meet lots of hot, mysterious guys! Because god knows we won't find any here at Rintama!" Amber said.

Kelda sighed wearily. Whenever Amber went into her boy crazy mode, any hope of reasonable discussion went out the window. But personally, she did agree with Amber. The boys at Rintama were mostly just rude thugs who enjoyed fighting with each other and harassing the female students whenever they could.

"True. But I don't have time for that, anyway." Kelda said.

"I get where you're coming from, really I do. But you need to live a little, too! If not guys, then you should at least make the time for something else exciting in your life. Your best years will be over before you know it!" Amber said.

"You sound like my grandmother! But I will take your advice into consideration. I really need to go now, though. I'll call you tomorrow. See you later, Amber!" Kelda said as she started to sprint towards the street.  
xxx

The crowd in front of the gate to the train was just as large as it always was during this time of day. When Kelda finally reached the machine that the passengers inserted money or their passes into, she saw what was causing the minor hold up. A boy was frantically trying to get the machine to accept his card, but kept getting denied instead.

"Card past expiration date. Please select alternate payment method." The automated voice blared annoyingly for about the fifth time now.

"No, it has not expired! I have until June 24! Stop glitching and just let me on already, dammit!" The boy said in annoyance.

"Please select alternate payment method." The machine seemed to be taunting the boy.

"Please, not today…" The boy said hopelessly.

Kelda decided to intervene. "Here, you can use mine if you want." She offered.

"Really!? Thank you so much! You are a lifesaver!" The boy said gratefully with a relieved smile on his face.

"Well, I couldn't just let you stand there like that forever! You might've ended up breaking that thing with the way you were going!" Kelda joked as they stepped onto the train.

"I don't usually take the train, but with my motorcycle in the repair shop right now, I really didn't have much of a choice. And it figures that the one time I use an alternate mode of transportation, this happens! So anyway, thank you again, um, what is your name?" The boy asked in a flustered tone.

"It's Kelda. Kelda Hale. And how about you, Mr. Unlucky With Transportation?" Kelda asked teasingly.

"I'm Marik Ishtar. But I don't think that the unlucky part is exactly accurate. At least not right now, that is." Marik said with a smile playing on his lips.

Kelda couldn't help blushing. This guy couldn't be trying to flirt with her, could he!? She quickly brushed the idea aside.

Suddenly, Kelda realized that she recognized Marik. "You were a duelist in the Battle City tournament a year ago, weren't you?" She asked.

"Heh, I guess I should stop hoping people won't remember me from that!" Marik said ruefully.

"Well, it was hard to forget something that big. But I am a little surprised. You don't look the same as you did back then, especially the hair." Kelda said with forced casualness.

Kelda was trying to get some sort of reaction out of Marik, something that would reveal her suspicions about Battle City. Because the fact was, after seeing the videos of the tournament on the internet, Kelda had always had a nagging suspicion that something had been out of the ordinary back then. Like the fact that another finalist had been illegally using Marik's name during the semifinals. Then, there was the way the cameras had stopped working during some of the duels. Kelda didn't usually believe in anything out of the ordinary, but Battle City had intrigued her, and she found herself foolishly hoping that Marik could confirm her suspicions.

"Well, we were at a pretty high altitude with strong winds. So it helped to do something to get your hair from getting in the way." Marik replied casually; breaking Kelda out of her thoughts.

"Just let me know if you ever remember the name of whatever it was that you used on your hair back then! Because I have a friend who would certainly appreciate it!" Kelda joked; slightly disappointed about Marik's nonchalance on the subject.

"I'll see what I can do. But I'm guessing that you didn't watch the tournament solely to speculate about my preferred brand of hair gel. Which brings me to ask you, are you interested in Duel Monsters at all?" Marik asked.

"I've always enjoyed the psychological aspect of it. You know, all of the taunting and poker faces. But the game itself sounds exhausting. It's always: "this card is activated only in a chain-link", or: "you must remove such and such monsters from your graveyard before you can summon this". For all of the different rules involved, it might as well be school! Sure, it looks fun to pick out a bunch of cards that you think are cool and then show off to everyone. I'd like to do it, but mostly, I just don't see how I can plan my life around a card game!" Kelda explained.

Marik laughed lightly. "It can be overwhelming when you first start. But as long as you build a deck that is easy for you to use, the rest won't be so hard. And your opponents have to explain their card effects to you, anyway." He said.

"I guess that you would know. Are you still a duelist at all? I never heard about you being in any other tournaments after Battle City." Kelda said curiously.

"I still duel with friends once in a while, but I haven't been in anything professional since Battle City." Marik explained somewhat uncomfortably.

"If you don't mind my asking, why is that? Granted, I didn't get to see a lot of your duels because of all the issues with the cameras, but what I did see seemed pretty good. And I figure that you must have been talented enough to have gotten second place back then." Kelda said.

"Thank you. But to answer your question, it was around a time in my life where I needed to focus on other things. Actually, I'm still doing that now, too…" Marik explained with a distant look in his eyes.

"I can understand that." Kelda said.

Just then, the announcement for the train's next stop came, alerting Kelda that she had to get off the train in a few minutes. She was surprised to find that she was reluctant to end her conversation with Marik. After having to put with guys from Rintama on a daily basis, she had forgotten what it was like to talk to one who was actually civil.

"I have to get off in a minute…" Kelda trailed off; unsure of how to end the conversation. While a part of her wanted to ask Marik if he wanted to talk again some other time, another part of her said that she shouldn't even be entertaining this idea at all. As much as she had enjoyed talking with Marik, Kelda was worried that her schedule was already full enough without making room for another friend. No matter how interesting he was.

"I didn't realize that we were all the way over here already! Thanks again for helping me get a ride. And it was nice to meet someone who is a fan of me as a duelist! But since you did say that you might still be interested in Duel Monsters yourself, why don't we do this? Give me your phone number so that I can call you if you ever want to learn anything about the game. Or even just to talk, if you'd like." Marik said.

 _Geez, he's straightforward! But how can I say no when he puts it like that?_ Kelda thought to herself helplessly as she looked at the bright, happy smile on Marik's face.

 _Simple, I can't._ Kelda thought as she silently admitted defeat.

"Sure! I'd like that!" Kelda agreed happily, despite her earlier worries.

"Great! Thanks. And I guess I may as well give you my number, too." Marik said.

After Kelda and Marik had put each other's phone numbers into their contact lists on their phones, Kelda turned to say goodbye to Marik before she got off the train.

"I guess I'll talk to you later. I know I have about a thousand questions to sort through about Duel Monsters before I find the ones I want to start with for you. So be prepared! It was nice meeting you, Marik." Kelda said.

"The pleasure was all mine. I look forward to hearing from you, Kelda." Marik said with a smile that made Kelda's stomach feel like it had just done a small somersault.

 _Dang it! Why does he have to be so handsome!? What have I gotten myself into!?_ Kelda thought to herself in frustration as she got off the train.  
xxx

"Grandma, I'm home!" Kelda called as she opened the door to the small shop where both she and her grandmother lived and worked. It sold various types of spiritual and occult paraphernalia. But the main attraction of The Oracle's Mirror was the fortune-telling services that were mainly done by Kelda. When she wasn't running the register, Kelda was basically conning eager customers who wanted a reading of their future. While a lot of the customers were just in it for fun and probably didn't take her readings seriously, Kelda still felt guilty for putting on this charade every day. But the store was their only source of income, and Kelda knew that they couldn't afford to just stop.

Kelda sighed when she received no answer from her grandmother. _Looks like she's in the basement again._ She thought to herself wearily as she headed downstairs to the basement that also served as a storage room for all of the store's merchandise.

As usual, the basement was a cluttered mess. Along with all of the extra merchandise, various odd objects were scattered all about the room. Old clothes, mirrors, dusty furniture, and a jumble of well…things, crowded the room. Kelda's grandmother's official occupation title was a medium. People would pay her to contact and communicate with the souls of the dead. She insisted to Kelda that her powers were real, but Kelda refused to believe her without any actual proof.

"Kelda, how many times do I have to tell you to speak more quietly down here!? You'll disturb the energy, and then I won't be able to reach the spirits for another two hours, if I'm lucky!" Kelda's grandmother scolded her lightly.

Marissa Hale was an elderly woman in her mid-60s. On the outside, she looked like the typical image of a grandmother, but she was anything but that. She was deeply into the world of the supernatural and believed that the spirits had a dimension of their own that most people couldn't comprehend simply because they chose not to. It was not uncommon for Kelda to find her grandmother engaging in an in-depth conversation with what she would claim to be a wandering spirit that she would claim needed help "moving on". Only it never looked like she was talking to anyone at all. Marissa also liked to save a large amount of old, used items; claiming that they helped her to read the auras of the dead better.

"I'm sorry, grandma. But you know it's hard to get your attention at all once you start meditating." Kelda apologized ruefully.

"I don't think it matters too much anymore. I think that most of the regulars can recognize your presence by now. I'm growing a bit worried about Charles, in particular. I think he is starting to fancy you. But enough of that. How was school today?" Marissa asked.

"Same as usual. But I did meet a guy on the train who seemed pretty nice. Judging from the uniform, I'd say he is probably from Domino High." Kelda said as casually as she could.

Marissa's eyes lit up with interest. "Oh? And what brought this on?" She asked.

"It's nothing like that, grandma. His pass had expired or something and he was having a hard time getting on the train, so I let him use mine. Then we talked for a while about card games. That's all." Kelda said. She decided to leave out the part about them exchanging phone numbers for now. The last thing she needed was for her grandmother to start demanding that she invite Marik over so that she could read this aura in order to make sure that he was "safe".

"Well, that sounds nice. Sometimes I worry that I've forced you to give up too much with all of the work here. I wish you could have more time for your friends..." Marissa said regretfully.

"Grandma, please! How many times do I have to tell you that I don't mind? We have to make a living somehow. And despite the fact that I complain about the job a lot, it could be a lot worse. We're a team, remember?" Kelda said.

Marissa smiled. "The best in the city! The Oracle's Mirror is unstoppable!" She joked.

"Exactly! I'm going upstairs to start behind the counter now. Hopefully, that's all I'll have to do today. Inventory has been a nightmare these past few days!" Kelda said.

"I'll be up in about 10 minutes to take over if you need me to. And then I'll make you that strawberry tart that you like so much, if you want." Marissa offered.

"Thanks, but I think I'll just settle for some coffee this time!" Kelda said. Even though she had a pretty healthy build, Kelda didn't really get that much time to really exercise. Not counting her after school run to the train station, that is. She figured that it would be better to play it safe and limit the sweet stuff a bit.

"Okay, but don't fool yourself into believing that all of this coffee is safe!" Marissa said.

Kelda smiled as she went upstairs. She had been living with her grandmother since she was three years old, and despite Kelda's reservations about what they did for a living, they got along very well. Kelda couldn't remember what living with her parents had been like. Even though they were both still alive and well, Kelda had never spoken to them once after she started living with Marissa. She didn't know exactly what had happened back then. Only that it must have been pretty bad due to the fact that both of her parents had actually lost a custody battle in court for her to her grandmother. From what Kelda knew of the situation, her parents still had the option of visitation rights, but they simply chose not to make any contact with their daughter. And even stranger than that was the fact that Mr. and Mrs. Jason and Ruby Hale had no address, phone number, or any other contact information whatsoever, no matter how hard Kelda had searched for it. It was as if they had just dropped off the face of the Earth entirely. Eventually, Kelda had stopped trying to find them altogether. There were no answers, and Kelda loved her grandmother and was happy with the way her life was now.

Kelda snapped out of her thoughts as the bell on the front door jangled; signaling the arrival of a customer. She hurriedly pulled on the ridiculous looking blue hooded cloak with the moon and star designs on it.

"Welcome to The Oracle's Mirror! I, Lady Morgana, can read the movements of the heavenly bodies of space in order to predict your future! Would you like a reading today?" Kelda said in a dramatic fashion. The old speech always sounded equally ridiculous to her, no matter how many times she said it.

xxx

Later that night after work was finally over for the day, Kelda sat in front of her laptop in her room in the apartment directly upstairs from the store; searching YouTube until she found what she was looking for: videos of the matches from the Battle City finals. Or rather, everything that Kaiba Corporation had managed to record. Not only was a lot of the footage from Marik's duels cut out, but there were also a few minutes during both of Seto Kaiba's duels where the same thing had happened. But what Kelda had thought was crazy was how the duelists themselves had talked to each other during their matches. They spouted a lot of nonsense about how the fate of the world was at stake, and past lives in ancient Egypt. They acted like this children's card game was their life or something. Kelda figured that it was all just some big, fake show to entertain the viewers and promote business for Kaiba Corporation since the tournament itself was organized by it. The duelists even seemed to play specific roles. There was Yugi, the righteous hero who was supposedly some ancient Egyptian Pharaoh. Then there was Marik himself, who played the part of the psychotic, evil villain with the stereotypical bad guy goals of killing everyone and taking over the world. But in Kelda's opinion, the most ridiculous character part in Battle City had been played by Marik's sister, Ishizu, who claimed that she could predict the future.

 _Great, Ishizu! Maybe you could lend me that Millennium Necklace thing so that I wouldn't have to cheat people out of their money every day!_ Kelda thought to herself sarcastically.

Kaiba was the only one who seemed sane enough to write the whole thing off as pure nonsense, but Kelda figured that he had to act like that during the show in order to protect his own personal reputation.

As Kelda scrolled down the list of Battle City videos, she finally found one that she was looking for. It was a very short video of the very beginning of the final duel of the tournament between Yugi and Marik before the cameras had once again stopped working.

Kelda looked at the screen intently as Marik started shuffling Yugi's deck with a little too much enthusiasm. _"Ah, ha, ha-ha! Shuffle well, Pharaoh! And pray that my Egyptian God card ends up on the bottom of my deck!"_ Marik yelled excitedly.

The Marik in the video barely resembled the kind, cheerful boy that Kelda had met on the train just hours earlier. His hair was wild and spiky, and veins bulged from his face as he laughed maniacally in an unnaturally deep voice. Kelda had to admit that Marik really was a good actor to pull this off.

Kelda looked at some of the user comments posted below the video: **NightRose 191: LOL!** **Look at him shuffle his deck! Was he on drugs!?** , **Marik Ishtar 4 Life: Marik is hot! I wish he would enter more tournaments!** , **Kaiba Corp Sucks: Where is the duel!?** , **Marik Ishtar 4 Life: They couldn't air it because Marik made the cameras explode with his hotness!** After rolling her eyes at the comments, Kelda decided to log off for the night.

Kelda's phone made a chime-like noise, signaling the arrival of a text message. For a moment, Kelda became paranoid. It was almost as if she was afraid that Marik had somehow knew that she just been watching him on YouTube and had decided to text her about it. Kelda breathed a sigh of relief after seeing that it was just Amber.

 _Oh, shoot. I'm going to have to tell her about Marik soon, and she's going to have a heart attack. And that will be the end of my life, responsible for the murder of my best friend._ Kelda thought to herself wryly.

Kelda was already thinking of a good dueling question to ask Marik. Because despite how nervous she was about him, Kelda was still excited about talking to Marik again. Lately, Kelda had found herself becoming somewhat bored by the set routine that her life had been for years now. It was always just school, work, and fitting in time to spend a couple of hours with Amber and her other friends when she could. Learning how to duel would be something fun and different, and Kelda felt like her life could use that right now. And then there was Marik himself. He seemed nice enough, but at the same time Kelda couldn't help thinking that there was something he was hiding. She immediately scolded herself for thinking like that.

 _Battle City was fake, and there are no magic powers or any other hocus-pocus that they pretended to believe in. You're just trying to believe that something about Marik is out of the ordinary because you are bored._ Kelda told herself firmly. Little did she know just how wrong she really was...  
xxx

"I didn't realize just how much we bought until now! This bag is heavy!" Tea said as she and Yugi's grandfather, Solomon, walked down the street towards the Kame Game Shop where both he and Yugi lived.

Solomon chuckled. "Yugi does seem to have developed quite a sweet tooth these days! If he's not careful, the dentist's office could end up becoming a very frightening place for him! Take it from this old man!" He joked.

"I'm just glad I was able to finally rent a copy of that new videogame he was looking for. Even with all of us being on the waitlist for it, it still took this long just to get it! Yugi always wants the things that are the most difficult to find!" Tea said.

"But he can always count on you to get him what he wants, Tea!" Solomon said with a grin.

Tea blushed furiously. "Well, maybe it's time I stopped being so lenient with him!" She said in mock anger she pulled open the door to the shop.

"Yugi! We're back!" Solomon called as they entered the house. There was no response.

Tea rolled her eyes. "Probably wearing his headphones while he's glued to the TV screen just so that he can hear all of the sound effects in his games more clearly! I'll go upstairs and get him." She said.

Tea walked into Yugi's upstairs bedroom to find him lying on his side on the floor.

"Yugi, just how long are you going to sleep!? You're the one who planned game night for today, so the least you could do is to be a little more polite to your guests!" Tea said in exasperation.

When Yugi still didn't reply, Tea started to get worried. She walked over to the other side of the room so that she was facing Yugi and put her hand lightly on his shoulder.

"Okay, the joke is over Yugi! So if you could just-" Tea froze in midsentence as she got a good look at Yugi's face. His eyes were wide open and staring lifelessly ahead, and he wasn't moving at all.

"Yugi!? Yugi! YUGI!" Tea screamed in horror.


	3. Chapter 3

As Marik walked through the streets of downtown Domino, his brain still struggled to comprehend what had happened last week. Like Pegasus, Yugi was now also in a coma. After Tea had found Yugi that night, Solomon had had a heart attack and was rushed to the hospital due to the shock he experienced from seeing his grandson in such a horrifying condition. Luckily, Solomon had recovered, but he was still in the hospital. Yugi had not woken up at all, and the doctors were just as puzzled with his condition as Pegasus' doctors had been with him. Tea, Joey, and Tristan spent most of their time at the hospital these days. Tea had even stopped attending school altogether. There was no evidence of anything that might have brought on Yugi's condition. Marik suspected that the strange people who had been seen entering Pegasus' castle right before he fell into his coma had something to do with this as well. The only problem was that there was no sign of any outside involvement this time around. No one in the neighborhood had witnessed any suspicious activity, and there were no cameras to record anything at the Kame Game Shop. It was even considered normal for Yugi and Solomon to sometimes leave the front door unlocked when the shop was closed. The media had quickly picked up on the news of Yugi's coma. Headlines in newspapers everywhere, tons of online sources, the radio, and television reported that the famous King of Games, Yugi Mutou, was now in serious condition. But it was also now being said that this could be linked to the attack on Pegasus due to the fact that both he and Yugi were important figures in the world of Duel Monsters.

Marik had taken the time to visit Yugi in the hospital yesterday. He felt horrible that one of his only friends had ended up like this. Yugi had forgiven Marik for every horrible thing that he had done to him. He didn't deserve this. Even though he knew that it was irrational of him to believe it, Marik couldn't help somehow feeling guilty for what had happened to Yugi.

 _After everything I did to him, I should be the one who has to suffer like this, not him._ Marik thought to himself.

Yugi's condition wasn't the only problem weighing on Marik's mind, though. Yami Marik was still alive and well inside of Marik's head, and he didn't show any signs of wanting to leave, either. Even though he hadn't been able to actually take control, Marik still had to endure the threats and taunts from his worse side every day now. Marik now suffered from a permanent headache, no matter what he did. There was no respite even in his sleep because Yami Marik continually invaded his nightmares. Marik had pretty much given up on sleep these days, and Ishizu and Odion could tell that something was very wrong. But Marik was still too afraid to tell them his awful secret. He was afraid that they might want to do something to him in order to get rid of his dark half, simply because they would decide that the risks were too high.

 _Do what, exactly!? The pharaoh is gone, and we don't have the Millennium Items anymore! So there really is nothing anyone can do to help me. Unless they kill me, that is._ Marik thought to himself grimly. But despite his fears, Marik tried to reassure himself that things were still fine. Yami Marik didn't seem to be going anywhere, and as long as it stayed that way, there wasn't a real problem.

As Marik turned on to the next street, he tried to focus on what he had come here for. He may not have felt comfortable enough to tell Ishizu and Odion about Yami Marik's return. But there was one person that he knew that would understand exactly what he was going through.  
xxx

"Oh, good! You're finally here! I was starting to think that you had gotten lost. There are quite a few turn-arounds on the way here, after all! Please, come inside." Bakura said with a smile as he held the door to his apartment open for Marik.

"Thanks, Bakura. Sorry about showing up so late. I wanted to at least try to get some homework done this week." Marik apologized ruefully as he stepped inside.

"Don't worry, it's quite all right. I'm a night owl, anyway." Bakura said with a sheepish grin.

Marik looked around Bakura's apartment as he followed him inside. As usual, the place was a gigantic mess. The living room was cluttered with various types of books, board games, and video game cartridges. A pile of dirty clothes overflowed from the clothing hamper. There was also a permanent ring from what Marik had guessed was a coffee mug etched into the nearby end table. Bakura was an even bigger gaming addict then Yugi, and it wasn't uncommon for him to stay up for hours every night playing games or working on some campaign project for his favorite role-playing game, Monster World.

"Bakura, I really think that you should start doing something about all of this. I wouldn't be surprised if those dirty clothes have developed their own DNA at this point!" Marik said seriously.

"I did mean to do a little cleaning yesterday, but I had to answer a bunch of questions from players on the Monster World message board, and I guess I just lost track of the time. It seems like people are still having a hard time figuring out that you have to find the mythril dagger before you challenge the King's Specter a second time. But it's no big deal! I'll just do it tomorrow!" Bakura said cheerfully. But he usually didn't end up cleaning anything whenever he said that.

Ever since Bakura had gotten legal permission to use Monster World in name, he had been working with a classmate who was an amateur game developer to make an online version of the game. Even though Marik had heard Bakura rant far too often about how gamers did not appreciate the original RPGs that were not played in front of a screen, he knew that Bakura was enjoying himself with the project nonetheless. However, between writing weekly campaigns and answering questions on the message board, Bakura was stretching himself thin.

"Well, maybe if you could receive some royalties off of Monster World, you could then hire someone to do all of this work for you!" Marik joked.

"That would be nice. But enough about that. What was it that you wanted to talk to me about, Marik?" Bakura asked curiously.

"Before I tell you, you have to promise not to tell anyone else. Can you do that?" Marik asked seriously.

"Okay. But now I'm worried. This sounds serious." Bakura said worriedly.

"That's because it is. I don't want to alarm you…but it looks like my dark side has returned." Marik confessed.

Instead of showing any fear, Bakura looked merely puzzled. "But how is that even possible? I always thought that the Shadow Realm was a one-way trip without any outside assistance." He said.

"I have no idea. He hasn't been able to take control of me. But we can hear and talk to each other. Only I wish that I couldn't hear him! He says he's going to find a way to kill me and take over again! And after that, it will be everyone else! I don't know how he would do it, but he wants revenge, and I…" Marik trailed off in despair.

Bakura looked at Marik sympathetically. "When did this start?" He asked calmly.

"Last week." Marik said.

"Well, all I can really tell you is that you should just tell yourself that nothing has happened so far. Maybe he can't control you anymore." Bakura said.

Suddenly, a horrible idea came to Marik. "Have you heard anything from…him? If it can happen to me, I'm worried that it could be the same for you, too." Marik said.

Like Marik, Bakura had also been possessed by an evil spirit. A very different kind of spirit, though. Whereas Yami Marik was simply a split personality that had developed a life of his own, Yami Bakura was the three thousand year-old spirit of a thief king who had been out for revenge. While Yami Bakura hadn't acted nearly as sadistic and psychotic as Yami Marik, he had tried to resurrect an ancient evil to destroy the world. His motives and actions had just been a lot more calculated and goal-driven.

"No, I haven't heard anything, and I hope it stays that way. I still feel responsible for so many things…" Bakura said guiltily.

"You still haven't told anyone else about it, have you?" Marik asked.

"Does it really matter? Yugi is in a coma, and he's the one who really deserves an explanation. But I just don't think that I can admit anything." Bakura said

"Look, you have to realize that it wasn't your fault. He tricked you." Marik insisted.

"I know. I still can't believe I fell for everything he said about wanting to change. Duelist Kingdom should have been the last straw. But once he started doing things that actually were helpful to us, like finding Yugi in the warehouse, I believed him. During Battle City, he said that it was important that it looked like you wouldn't suspect anything. He said he was going to help save the world. He always had some sort of convincing argument. He could make you believe anything. For a while, I thought that we were friends. I thought that we were a team like Yugi was with Atem. Just a little bit different. It made me feel important. But after Battle City was over and you and Yugi explained everything to me, I started having doubts. And even after Yugi took the Millennium Ring away, I kept hearing him. Always telling me about the pharaoh's lost memories and insisting that I had a mission to help him get what he wanted. He was just so…obsessed. It was scary. I realized that I had been wrong, but by then it was too late, and he took over again and almost destroyed the world! I could've prevented everything if I had just been honest with Yugi!" Bakura said.

"The important thing is that you realized that he was bad. And it could've happened to other people as well. After all, I was stupid enough to believe that he would help me when I still wanted revenge against the pharaoh. Sociopaths like him have a way with people." Marik said.

"I guess you're right. I just wish that Yugi would wake up. And Pegasus, too. It's eerie how all of this is happening at once." Bakura said.

"I know. But I still think that you should tell Joey and the others everything. If they can forgive me, then I doubt that they would be angry at you for being tricked like that. You weren't trying to hurt anybody, and we didn't even know what he really wanted for a long time. Trust me, they won't blame you." Marik said confidently.

"I'll try. But I think that you need to also tell the others about this. Or at least just Ishizu and Odion." Bakura said.

"That's different. With the way Yugi is right now, this will be the last thing they'll want to know about. Nothing has happened, so maybe he really can't do anything like you said." Marik said. But he sounded more like he was just trying to convince himself.  
xxx

The next day, Marik walked past the display cases in Domino City Museum as he made his way to Ishizu's office. He still wasn't sure if he was ready to tell Ishizu and Odion the truth yet. But he hoped that being around a place that had some similarity to their home country might make it easier for him to start talking.

Marik had just been about to enter the curator's office when the sound of arguing from inside made him stop.

 _Great! He's back again!_ Marik thought to himself sarcastically as he recognized Kaiba's angry voice.

"I don't know why you are being so difficult about this! It's not like I'm going to hurt anything!" Kaiba complained.

"On the contrary, you are talking about disturbing things that are meant to be left alone!" Ishizu argued.

"How is it disturbing anything when I would make sure that it is all back in place afterwards!? This is ridiculous!" Kaiba said in frustration.

"No matter what you say, my answer is still no. You need to move on from this, Kaiba. The past is past. You cannot interfere with fate." Ishizu said firmly.

"Don't even give me that "destiny" garbage again!" Kaiba practically shouted.

After a few seconds, Kaiba lowered his voice before he continued to speak. Marik had to practically press his ear against the door just to hear what he was saying. "-reverse also should be true." Kaiba said.

"-not a place for you." Marik could just barely make out Ishizu's response.

 _Damn it! What am I missing!?_ Marik thought to himself in frustration as the hushed conversation continued.

"-not the same. I need to know!" Kaiba said in a voice that almost sounded whiny.

"As I have said before, what you are attempting to do is impossible. And even if I could assist you, I would still choose not to. Now, if you have nothing else to discuss, then I suggest it that you leave, Kaiba. I am quite busy." Ishizu said.

"Fine! Whatever." Kaiba said angrily.

Marik quickly backed away from the doorway and walked a few paces away from Ishizu's office. The last thing he wanted was for her to find out that he had been eavesdropping.

Kaiba threw open the door and stormed down the hallway; his long coat billowing behind him.

Marik would never admit it to anyone, but he did respect Kaiba as a person. Despite being rude and arrogant, Kaiba was honest and worked hard to achieve his goals. During Battle City, Kaiba had shown no fear of Yami Marik, and Marik believed that Kaiba could have won against his dark side if they had been forced to duel each other. There was also the fact that Marik believed that Kaiba was somewhat responsible for stopping Yami Marik. If Kaiba hadn't lent the pharaoh his Devil's Sanctuary card during the tournament finals, then he might have actually lost the duel against Yami Marik. But right now, none of that really mattered to Marik. He was just sick and tired of Kaiba coming here to bother his sister, and he was going to say something about it.

Marik purposely walked in front of Kaiba, blocking his path. "Kaiba, this is the third time this week that you've come here to bother my sister. You need to stop." Marik said firmly.

Kaiba looked irritated. "Great, just what I need! Another equally annoying Ishtar sibling! What makes you think I'll listen to the likes of you!? I make my own decisions. Decisions that are none of your business, Marik." He said.

"It is my business if you're harassing my sister, Kaiba! So you had better quit now if you know what's good for you." Marik warned. Other people might have been afraid to say such things to the imposing CEO, but not Marik. After everything he had gone through in life, this was merely a trifle. He was not afraid of Seto Kaiba.

Kaiba looked amused. "Or else what? Do you really think that I would be afraid of your pathetic little threats?" He sneered.

Marik felt like he wanted to punch Kaiba and then shove him into one of the display cases. All of the sudden, he heard Yami Marik from inside of his head.

" **Yes! Very good, Marik! Get angry! It will only make me stronger! Then I can come out and kill Seto Kaiba for you! I know that's what you REALLY want! After all, he won't be able to come back here if he's DEAD!"** Yami Marik shouted with sick delight.

"No! Shut up!" Marik said distractedly. He only then realized that he had said that out loud.

"What did you just say to me, Marik?" Kaiba asked with a deadly calm in his voice. He had clearly thought that Marik's outburst had been directed towards him.

"Nothing. Look, can you please just leave already!? We have a lot to do right now." Marik said.

"You don't have to convince me to leave." Kaiba replied. As he started to walk away, Kaiba accidentally bumped into a sign. About five books fell out of his coat. He looked furious with himself.

Marik knelt down to look at the books. He was surprised to see that they were all about ancient Egypt.

"What do we have here? _Mysteries of Ancient Egypt, Pharaohs of The Dynasties, The Book of The Dead_. That's quite a collection! Since you are this interested, I could lend you a copy of _Egypt on Five Dollars a Day_ if you'd like. Although I'm afraid it is a bit outdated now." Marik taunted Kaiba.

Kaiba hurriedly picked up the books and shoved them back into wherever he kept them behind his coat. He looked like he had just been caught doing something shameful and embarrassing.

"You will never speak of what you just saw!" Kaiba hissed furiously.

Marik shrugged his shoulders casually. "Wouldn't dream of it." He said nonchalantly.

Suddenly, the communication device in the collar of Kaiba's coat flashed. Kaiba pressed it quickly.

"What is it, Mokuba!?" Kaiba asked tensely.

"Seto, the board meeting started ten minutes ago! Everyone's waiting for you! You're never late! What is holding you up!?" The frantic voice of Kaiba's younger brother questioned him through the intercom.

"Nothing of importance. I'll be there soon." Kaiba said.

"Looks like you have other matters that you should be attending to. But remember what I said, Kaiba." Marik said.

"Don't worry. I'm done coming here. It's all proved to be a colossal waste of my time anyway." Kaiba said. He walked away from Marik; heading towards the exit.

 _And yet you keep coming back!_ Marik thought to himself in annoyance.

Marik walked into Ishizu's office to find his sister hastily flipping through some papers.

"Sister, how was work today?" Marik asked as casually as he could.

"Don't pretend that you didn't hear anything, Marik. I can tell from your expression that you were listening behind the door the whole time our "guest" was here." Ishizu said.

"Okay, you got me there. But I didn't hear everything." Marik admitted.

"You're probably better off not knowing." Ishizu said wryly.

"Not knowing what?" Odion asked as he entered the room.

Marik turned to his brother. "Odion! You are the head of security here! Can't you do something about Kaiba!?" Marik practically begged him.

Odion raised an eyebrow. "He's not causing any damage to the exhibits. He hasn't actually refused to leave when he's been asked to; I don't see how he's breaking any rules." Odion said. He looked curiously at Ishizu.

"True, but Seto Kaiba seems to want to interfere with things that should remain untouched." Ishizu said.

"Such as?" Marik asked.

"He wants to try reopening the Door of Darkness in the hopes that he can meet with the pharaoh again. So he's been trying to convince me to get permission for him from the Egyptian government so that he can go there again." Ishizu explained bitterly.

"What!? How dare he try to disturb the pharaoh's afterlife!? Let me guess, he wants to duel him again, right!? Does Kaiba not have a life!? I can't believe this! And it's horrible that he doesn't even care about Yugi right now! You would think that he would have at least recognized how good of a duelist he is after he beat the pharaoh and all three of the Egyptian God Cards! But all he cares about is his precious ego! He makes me sick!" Marik ranted.

"It would be good for him to duel other people. I bet that you could give him a run for his money, Marik! But more importantly, how would Kaiba even go about doing what he wants to? The Millennium Items are buried deep underground, and even if he did find them, I doubt that they would hold any more power." Odion said.

"Either way, it doesn't matter. I'm not giving him permission to go there." Ishizu said.

"Good!" Marik said fiercely.

"Still, I can't believe that he chooses to start taking all of this seriously now! He is such an infuriating man!" Ishizu said angrily. She slammed the drawer to the file cabinet shut; causing a little golden figurine to fall off of the top of the cabinet. Marik couldn't help feeling a little surprised by his sister's behavior. She was usually so calm and collected.

"Well, maybe Kaiba won't come here anymore now that he knows that I'm just going to yell at him too if he keeps pressing this." Marik said hopefully.

"Maybe. If that's the real reason that he keeps coming here." Odion said thoughtfully.

Marik and Ishizu both glared at Odion.

"Just what are you implying, Odion!?" Ishizu demanded furiously.

"Never!" Marik said in outrage.

"Oh, dear. It looks like I may have gotten myself into trouble!" Odion joked nervously.  
xxx

"But if you really want to use Fire Princess, then you're going to want to switch your deck theme from Burn to Cure-Burn." Marik explained to Kelda over the phone. It was late at night now, and Marik was having one of his marathon phone calls with his new friend.

"I guess you're right. It's just frustrating because I wanted everything to have fire in its name, you know? Or anything related to fire, like flame or something." Kelda said.

"That's the hardest part. Getting too caught up with cards that you really want to use when they aren't exactly practical for your deck's theme. It's happened to me more than once." Marik admitted.

"Well, it's good that you're helping me to resist that temptation. Or I would just be getting nowhere fast!" Kelda joked.

"Speaking of that, do you want to bring homework again like we did last time? I've fallen a bit behind this past week." Marik said.

"Oh, no! It's not because of me, is it!?" Kelda asked worriedly.

"No, it's nothing like that. If anything, you are actually helping me finish what I can. I've just been a bit under the weather, that's all." Marik answered.

"I think we all get that every so often. But I'm glad I can help. So, do you want to go to J'z again?" Kelda asked.

"How about that new place? What's it called again? Finish Line?" Marik asked.

"I know where you mean. Normally I would say yes, but I swear, they dump about a gallon of this nasty artificial sweetener stuff into all of their lattes! I mean, I like sweet drinks, but I draw the line there! No pun intended. It's like they are doing that just to mask how awful the coffee tastes." Kelda complained.

Marik laughed. "I'll keep that in mind!" He joked.

"But if you really want to try it, we could still go." Kelda offered.

"That's okay. I'm afraid to go there myself now! So, tomorrow at eight again?" Marik asked.

"Yeah. Sorry it's always so late." Kelda apologized.

"No, it's fine. You have work, and I hardly sleep as it is." Marik said. He then cringed inwardly; worried about how Kelda might interpret the last part of his second sentence.

"You should try staring at just one single part of the ceiling until your eyes get tired. That usually works for me. On the rare occasions that I actually have trouble falling asleep, that is." Kelda said.

"Thanks, I'll try that. I should go now, though." Marik said.

"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow!" Kelda said.

"Alright. Bye!" Marik said. He then pressed the button to end the call.

Marik couldn't help smiling to himself for a moment. He really liked Kelda. She was friendly and easy to talk to. But he also liked how perceptive she was when it came to a lot of things. Kelda had to seemed to know right from the start that Battle City was not normal. And she seemed to have recognized just how different Marik was now just from watching videos of the tournament. It seemed like everyone else hadn't even noticed. But it also worried Marik. He didn't like lying to Kelda, but how was he supposed to explain it to her?

 _It's not like I can just say: "I was under the control of my evil split personality who had been trying to take over the world and kill everyone. And by the way, he might be back again. Oh, and I was also the leader of a criminal organization that stole and made counterfeit copies of Duel Monsters cards!"_ Marik thought to himself sarcastically.

Marik knew that he was playing a dangerous game. Yami Marik could very well take control of him again, and Kelda would be right in his line of fire. Oddly enough, Yami Marik was strangely silent when it came to Kelda. He never even acknowledged her existence. But somehow, that just worried Marik even more. He knew that he shouldn't risk getting close to anyone else right now. But he couldn't help it. Besides how much he enjoyed her company, Kelda made Marik feel normal again. It was nice to have a friend who didn't know anything about magic or evil forces trying to destroy the world. Because more than anything, Marik just wanted to put all of that behind him and live a normal life for once.

After he turned off the lamp on his nightstand, Marik tried focusing on one point of the ceiling like Kelda had advised him to.

" **Nice try, Marik. But you're in for a long night either way. The Shadow Realm is always just behind your eyelids!"** Yami Marik taunted.

Marik groaned in frustration. He then got up and headed towards the bathroom in search of more aspirin. It was going to be a long night.  
xxx

In a small darkened room, a man sat behind a large computer screen with a glass of wine in his hand. Displayed on the screen were images of six different people. First, there was Yugi, Pegasus, and an image of a very old photograph of Shadi, the keeper of the Millennium Scales and Key. A big red check mark was displayed next to all three of them. Next to those were images of Bakura, Ishizu, and Marik. The man's eyes narrowed in hatred as he glared at the image of Marik. He then threw his glass of wine at the screen in a rage; shattering it into a million pieces.

 **Author's note: I would like to thank everyone who has viewed, favorited, followed, and reviewed this story! I really did not believe that it would get this much attention! I would also like to thank Cowardly Dragon for giving me the idea of Yami Bakura being the "charming sociopath" who tricked Ryou into believing that he was good for a while. I hope that all of the characters are um, in character so far. Also, you may have noticed that I am ignoring DSOD in this. I liked the movie, but it doesn't fit with what I am doing in this story.**


	4. Chapter 4

"So, we turn right here?" Marik asked Kelda as they walked down the street after waiting for the traffic light to change. It was Sunday, and Marik was going to visit Kelda's house for the first time. He was both excited and nervous.

"No, we still have one more block to go. And since we technically live in the store, it is located in the business district." Kelda answered.

"Oh. I didn't think about that. Is it loud?" Marik asked curiously. The only other person he knew who lived above a business was Yugi. But his situation was a bit different since the Kame Game Shop was located in a residential area.

Kelda looked thoughtful. "It can get a bit loud at times with all of the cars. But it's not really bad once you get used to it. I like to listen to music while I do my homework. That helps a lot. And my grandmother is pretty cool about it since she is usually working in the storeroom in the basement, anyway." She explained.

"That sounds pretty convenient. Although, to be honest, I've never really been one for music. So I don't have to worry about arguing with my family about loud volumes." Marik said.

For most of his childhood, Marik hadn't known that music and songs had even existed. When he had first had access to the modern world after leaving his old home, Marik had initially been fascinated by all of the different types of songs on the radio. But after a while, he had come to realize that a lot of the lyrics were just variations of the same, basic themes. It was also mostly the same with television programs. Marik liked educational programs, like documentaries, because information and news about the world was always evolving. But he had lost interest in everything else on TV.

"You don't like music? That's a first. Not that there's anything wrong with that, though!" Kelda said; adding the last part a bit hastily.

"Well, I might have been a bit different if I hadn't been raised so strictly back then. But in a way, I feel like my childhood helped me to gain a different perspective about a lot of things in life..." Marik trailed off thoughtfully.

Kelda raised her eyebrows at Marik's comment. He sometimes made vague references to his past like this. But he would never elaborate any further if she pressed him for more details. Marik would either just say that it was a story for another day, or change the subject completely. Kelda guessed that Marik needed more time to get to know her better before he felt comfortable enough to start disclosing about his past. But it was still frustrating for her. Even though Kelda enjoyed having mysteries, she hated not being able to actually solve them.

"Hey, isn't this the street that you said your place is on?" Marik asked; quickly utilizing tactic number two of his avoidance strategies.

"Yes, it is. The Oracle's Mirror is right around the corner. Now before we go inside, I think that I should warn you about something first. My grandmother can be a little...eccentric. But she means well. She just takes her job very seriously, that's all." Kelda explained somewhat nervously. She fervently hoped that Marissa wouldn't say or do anything too embarrassing in front of Marik. It wouldn't have been the first time that her grandmother had scared her friends with a routine "aura check".

To Kelda's surprise, Marik had a look of interest on his face. "So, since you both run a fortune-telling shop, does that mean that your grandmother could give me a reading to predict my future?" He asked curiously.

"I'm the one who does the actual readings. But don't expect anything accurate. I'm mainly just doing it to help keep us afloat. After all, no one can actually predict the future. But Grandma's job is different. She's always said that she can communicate with spirits and read a person's aura. But I have no idea whether that's true or not. I mean, it's not like I can see or hear ghosts, so how would I know for sure? And as for reading someone? I will admit that she can be good at sensing someone's mood or intentions. But that's only when I know the person that she's read myself." Kelda explained.

"It is extremely unlikely for an individual to possess the power to predict the future. They would most likely need to rely on the assistance of an outside force or object to do so. However, I do believe that the spiritual sense is more common worldwide than people have originally estimated it to be. Particularly among collective cultures." Marik said.

"Wow. She's really going to like you!" Kelda said ruefully. She was a bit surprised that Marik actually bought into all of this occult nonsense. But on the other hand, Kelda couldn't deny that along with everything else, it somehow made Marik even more interesting.

 _Let's just hope he doesn't get into this stuff enough to do anything weird like that ridiculous cosplay act he had going on during Battle City._ Kelda thought wryly to herself as she opened the front door to the Oracle's Mirror.

"Grandma, I'm home!" Kelda called out. As usual, there was no response.

Kelda turned to face Marik, who was looking around the shop in fascination.

"She's probably downstairs." Kelda said as she pointed towards the door leading to the basement.

As Kelda and Marik descended the stairs to the basement, Kelda could hear her grandmother's voice.

"I know that you are still upset about not being able to win the world championship. But it is time to move on, Daisuke. After all, it's pretty hard to play baseball when you are dead! But only you can decide to make the journey." Marissa said as she conversed with a seemingly empty space.

Kelda was mortified. Of course, she just had to have brought a friend over on a day when Marissa was having one of her spiritual "talks" with a soul that was reluctant to move on into the afterlife.

To his credit, Marik didn't laugh or question Marissa's sanity. He simply turned to Kelda and said: "I'm guessing that is part of being a medium, right?"

"Yup..." Kelda replied wryly.

Suddenly, Marissa noticed Kelda and Marik standing in front of her. "Oh, hello! You're finally back, Kelda! And I see that you've brought a guest with you!" Marissa said with a smile.

Marissa turned back to face her presumed client. "Daisuke, I'm afraid that we will have to finish this conversation later. But I would be completely fine with you deciding to not re-schedule if you decide that you have somewhere else you want to be." She said pointedly.

"Sorry that I didn't knock first, grandma." Kelda apologized sheepishly.

"Oh, don't worry about it. I was actually supposed to be done with that appointment half an hour ago, but you know how the resistant ones can get! But enough about that. Who is this handsome young man that you've brought home for me to meet!? Your new boyfriend, perhaps?" Marissa said teasingly.

Kelda and Marik both blushed furiously.

"No! It's not like that at all, grandma! This is Marik Ishtar. He's the one that I told you that I met on the train." Kelda explained.

"It's very nice to meet you, Mrs. Hale! You have a wonderful store, and I would be very interested in learning more about your work here." Marik said politely. He extended his arm out to Marissa for a handshake.

"Well, aren't you an absolutely charming young man! I can see why Kelda already likes you so much, Marik!" Marissa said with a smile.

As soon as Marissa started to shake Marik's hand, she quickly pulled her own hand back and gasped in alarm. It was as if she had received an electric shock from him.

"What's wrong!?" Marik asked nervously.

"You... I just felt the presence of a great evil inside of you! I've never felt anything like it before! But it is also strange. He is a part of you, yet separate. A spirit, and yet not one. I don't understand..." Marissa said shakily.

Marik froze in horror. He knew that this was not an act. _She knows! She can sense him!_ He thought to himself in fear.

Kelda was angry. "Grandma, you're being rude! There is nothing wrong with Marik, and you're scaring him with this nonsense!" She scolded.

Marissa seemed to regain her composure. "I'm terribly sorry, Marik. I didn't mean to frighten you. I sometimes enjoy playing that trick on new customers, and they usually get a kick out of it. But I really should stop. Don't worry, you're perfectly fine!" She said.

Marik could tell that Marissa was lying to him, but decided not to say anything about it in front of Kelda. "Oh. Ha, ha. Well, that was...interesting. Don't worry, I'm not offended." He said with a feeble laugh.

"Thank you for being a good sport about it. But I'm sure that you kids are probably tired of hanging out with this old lady! So I'm going back to work now. Feel free to look around the store, Marik. And let me know if you two would like a snack or some tea. I'll see you later!" Marissa said with a wave as she turned towards the other part of the basement.

As soon as Marissa had left, Kelda turned to Marik. "I'm so sorry that my grandmother said all of that about being possessed to you. You do know that it wasn't really true, right?" Kelda asked.

"Don't worry. It's alright. Once I got past the initial surprise, I actually saw the humor in it! Your grandmother is a very fascinating person." Marik said; trying to mask the fear that he was still feeling.

"Thanks for understanding. I love her, but I wish that she wouldn't go so far with all of this hocus-pocus. But I suppose that that is what makes her so good at her job." Kelda said as they both went upstairs.

"You don't believe in her." Marik said. It was a statement, not a question.

"It's not that I disrespect her work. But how am I supposed to believe in ghosts or magic when there is no physical evidence of anything like that actually existing?" Kelda asked in frustration.

Marik couldn't help smiling. "You sound like someone I know. It is hard to believe in something that you can't see. But if a time ever comes when you see something that you can't explain, then it becomes a lot easier." He said.

"Well, let's hope that nothing like that ever happens! Would you like some tea or something?" Kelda asked as they walked into the kitchen.

"Sure, that sounds great!" Marik said.

xxx

"So, have you always lived with your grandmother?" Marik asked Kelda as they both had their tea at the small kitchen table.

"I'm guessing that that is just a politely re-phrased version of the question: "Where are your parents?" Am I right?" Kelda asked with a wry smile.

"Very perceptive. And yes, it is. If you don't mind me asking." Marik said.

"I don't mind. I've lived with grandma since I was three. Before that, I did live with my parents. But I don't remember them at all. All I know is that they lost a custody battle for me in court to grandma, and I haven't seen or heard from them ever since. And don't even get me started on just impossible they are to find! In this day and age, you would think that I would find something, but they may as well live on another planet for what I've found on them. Or I should say, haven't found. Not that I care anymore, though. They chose to stop wanting to be a part of my life a long time ago." Kelda said bitterly.

Marik was fascinated. Usually, parents were considered as the main guardians for their children, so the fact that they had both lost in court must mean that whatever had happened was very bad. For a moment, he thought of his own father. If Marik and his siblings had been being raised in the outside world back then, far away from the secrecy of the underground tombs, then he had no doubt that his father would have gotten into serious trouble for his actions against them all back then.

"I'm sorry. I never would have guessed that something like that had happened." Marik apologized.

"It's okay. I'm pretty happy with the way my life has turned out, so it really doesn't matter. But what about your family?" Kelda asked.

"I've lived with my older brother and sister for a while now. And since you've seen the Battle City finals, I'm sure that you remember them. Right?" Marik asked with a smile.

"Right. Ishizu and Odion. I bet that Ishizu would earn a lot more money at my job than me with the way she got into telling the future! Um, do you think that she would possibly be interested in a job here?" Kelda asked sheepishly.

Marik laughed. "Sorry, but I'm afraid that her days of seeing into the future are over!" He joked.

"Oh, well. I had to try! So, what about your parents? Are they still..." Kelda trailed off; unsure of how to finish her question.

"I've never met my mother. She died giving birth to me... And my father died when I was still a child." Marik explained somberly.

"Oh. How did your father die?" Kelda asked carefully.

Marik hesitated for a moment. "He was murdered." He said firmly; hoping that Yami Marik was listening. Even though Marik had stopped loving his father a long time ago, he still didn't believe that he had deserved to die like that.

"I'm sorry..." Kelda apologized.

"No, it's fine. You had no way of knowing. But I think that this is enough depressing conversation for one day. Why don't you show me around the store once we're done here? Then, I thought that we might have a practice duel just to see how you are doing. What do you say?" Marik asked.

"Sounds good to me!" Kelda agreed.

xxx

A couple of hours later, Marik was in the basement again. He had told Kelda that he had left something downstairs by accident, and that he would be back in a few minutes so that she could see him off before he took the next train back home. But in reality, it had just been an excuse for him to ask Marissa a question.

"Mrs. Hale?" Marik asked when he spotted her arranging some tarot cards on a small table.

Marissa looked up quickly at the sound of Marik's voice. "Oh. I thought that you had already left." She said in surprise.

"I will soon. But I wanted to ask you something. I know that you weren't just joking around when we met. You could sense my other half." Marik said.

Marissa sighed. "So you are aware of him. I don't know what has happened during your life, Marik. But I do know that you yourself are a kind soul." She said.

"But since you have powers, then there must be something that you can do to help me get rid of him! Please, is there any way that I can be saved!?" Marik begged desperately.

Marissa looked at Marik sadly. "Not the way you want to be." She said.

Marik hung his head in despair. "I see. I'll understand if you don't want me to spend anymore time with Kelda..." He said. Marik didn't like it, but he didn't want to put Kelda in danger, either.

"I can't forbid Kelda from doing much once her mind is made up about something. And she does like you quite a lot already. However, it would probably be for the best if you didn't see each other anymore. I've never felt a more malevolent presence than what is inside of you in all of my years as a medium, and frankly, it frightens me..." Marissa explained.

"I understand. I shouldn't have gotten involved with your granddaughter in the first place. I'm sorry..." Marik apologized helplessly. He turned to leave.

"Marik. Despite everything, I do still believe that you are good for Kelda. But only you can decide where to go from here." Marissa said.

"I hope that you are right..." Marik said.

xxx

Ryou Bakura was sitting at his kitchen table, still hard at work despite how late it was getting. He was working on designing new character figurines for the tabletop version of Monster World. Ever since Marik and the others had told him at school yesterday that they would like to get together for another game, he had been working overtime to create the figurines for the new character classes that they had requested. Marik had chosen to be a Paladin, which was basically a warrior type character who also possessed the ability to use some basic healing magic.

As Bakura was adding some blue paint around the edges of the armor, he heard the doorbell ring.

 _That's odd. I don't usually get any visitors at this time of night. And Marik and the others always call first._ Bakura thought to himself.

But despite the fact that it was almost 11:00 PM, Bakura couldn't help wanting to see who was at the door. He was curious about this potential mystery visitor of his.

After putting his cellphone in his pocket, Bakura got up from the table and walked over to the front door of his apartment. When he looked through the peephole, he saw two men who appeared to be in their early to mid twenties. They were both wearing business suits and carrying briefcases. Intrigued, Bakura opened the door a crack.

"Hello. May I help you?" Bakura greeted them politely.

"Good evening. We apologize for coming here at such a late hour. Would you happen to be Mr. Ryou Bakura?" Suit #1 inquired.

"Yes, that's me. May I ask what this is all about?" Bakura asked.

"Right. You see, we both work at an up and coming game company called Raizon Inc. Perhaps you have heard of us?" Suit #2 asked.

"No, I'm afraid that I haven't." Bakura apologized.

"Yes, well that is part of the reason why we are here. Raizon is still relatively new, and it is unable to compete with larger gaming companies like Kaiba Corporation and Industrial Illusions. That is why we need you, Mr. Bakura. We have heard of your work on converting Monster World into an internet based game. It is very impressive, and we could use talent like that at Raizon." Suit #1 explained.

"Thank you very much. But Takeshi is the one who does all of the programming. I just write out the campaign scenarios!" Bakura said sheepishly.

"But that is exactly what we are looking for! Ideas! You see, we want to create an RPG that is similar to Monster World, but at the same time, completely different. It's sort of hard to explain..." Suit #2 said.

Bakura started to feel excited. Despite how much time he already spent on Monster World, the idea of a whole new RPG sounded like fun.

"That sounds amazing, and I would love to be involved in the project! Here, why don't you both come in and let me make you some coffee so that we can all discuss the details together!?" Bakura said excitedly as he opened the front door all of the way.

"Thank you. That would be great." Suit #1 said as both he and his companion followed Bakura inside.

Once the two men were both seated at the kitchen table, Bakura got to work behind the counter; brewing fresh coffee for his guests. Since he was facing away from them, Bakura didn't notice when they started rummaging through their briefcases.

"I'm sorry if the coffee tastes a little bit off. I don't usually have guests here aside from Marik and his friends. And speaking of them, I'm sure that they will be very interested in this new game that you have proposed! I can't wait until-" Bakura started to say.

What happened next was all too fast. Before Bakura even had time to react, Suit #1 threw a strange powder-like substance over him. There was then a brilliant flash of golden light. Suit #2 then quickly pressed a button on a small metal device, causing a beam of light to flow from it, and then directly towards the golden light explosion surrounding Bakura that the powder had caused. The golden light was then absorbed into the device. A blank, dead-looking expression appeared on Bakura's face. He then fell to the floor; unconscious.

"That had to be the easiest one yet!" Suit #1 said with a laugh.

"Yeah! He didn't even ask for our names, or for any proof that our so-called company even exists! As soon as we mentioned Monster World, any sense he had just flew right out the window!" Suit #2 said.

"It was the same thing with that Yugi kid, too. These kids and their stupid games!" Suit #1 joked cruelly.

"Well, that's it for tonight. But I'm glad that this is almost over now." Suit #2 said ruefully.

"Right. Four down, and two to go." Suit #1 said. They both walked out of the apartment; not even bothering to spare another glance at Bakura's soulless body.

 **Author's note: I apologize if this is starting to seem a bit dark. But you might want to fasten your seatbelts, because you haven't seen anything yet! XD To Silencer39: Marik will eventually have a duel in this story. But even though I am a duelist myself, I'm not what you would call a creative one. So don't expect any overly complicated strategies. They will probably just be simply countering each other's moves.**


	5. Chapter 5

Marik still couldn't believe it. What had happened to Yugi was bad enough, but now Bakura had also fallen victim to the mysterious coma. When Marik, Joey, Tea, and Tristan had shown up at Bakura's apartment yesterday for a game of Monster World, they were horrified to find him lying unconscious on the kitchen floor. The strangest part about the scene was that there had been two half-filled coffee mugs resting on the counter. It looked like Bakura had been serving guests at the time. But if that was true, then just who were they, and where were they now? Once again, there were a lot more questions than answers, and it was more scary than ever.

Bakura's accident had hit Marik harder than Yugi's had. Even though he liked being around Yugi, Marik always felt that his own guilt about the past had been preventing him from becoming true friends with him. The same went for Joey, Tristan and Tea as well. But Bakura was different. He had always been somewhat separate from Yugi and the others, and that had somehow helped Marik to sort of mentally detach his guilt when it came to him. Plus, Bakura was the only one who truly understood what it was like to be possessed by an evil entity. After he had moved to Japan, Marik had had a lot of conversations with Bakura about the events of Battle City. Bakura was a true friend to Marik, and now he might not ever wake up again.

Marik came to the depressing realization that his life would probably not return to normal anytime soon.

 _Oh, well. It was fun while it lasted._ Marik thought to himself with bitter sarcasm as he dragged his feet into the kitchen.

After he had made himself some coffee, Marik sat down at the table next to Ishizu and Odion.

"What do-" Marik started to say before he was interrupted by Ishizu.

"Shh! Not now, Marik." Ishizu said vaguely; her eyes glued to the television screen.

Marik couldn't help feeling irritated with his sister. _Just where the hell did that come from!?_ He thought to himself.

Turning to look at the TV, Marik quickly found the answer to his question. Some reporters were interviewing Kaiba, and he did not look happy about it.

"As I have already said, Kaiba Corporation is in no way responsible for the conditions of the three individuals mentioned. Our Duel Disks use state-of-the-art technology, and to even suggest that they could have somehow caused any health issues for their owners is simply ludicrous! Also, both Maximillion Pegasus and Ryou Bakura are not even active duelists. There is no "dueling disease", and there is no point in asking me anymore questions about this. Now then, if you'll excuse me, I have a company to run!" Kaiba said irritably. He then turned and left; ignoring the outburst of questions from the reporters and onlookers in the crowd.

Ishizu, who had been gazing intently at the TV screen during Kaiba's comments, abruptly turned the television off with the remote control. She then turned to face Marik and Odion.

"I've been thinking about all of this a great deal lately. But it wasn't until Bakura also fell victim to this tragedy that I have finally started to put some of the pieces to this mystery together." Ishizu explained solemnly.

"Are you saying that you have an idea about how all of this has happened?" Odion asked carefully.

"Most likely, yes. But it is still only technically a theory at this point." Ishizu answered.

"Well, I'm assuming that you're not buying into the media's dueling disease theory. You can't very well accuse Seto Kaiba of something like that, right?" Marik said in a slightly sarcastic tone of voice.

Ishizu chose to ignore Marik's verbal jab. "Of course not. But at first, I did wonder if there was a possible connection to famous people in the world of Duel Monsters. However, I'm afraid that the conclusion that I have come to is far worse than what I had initially thought." Ishizu said grimly.

Marik and Odion looked at Ishizu expectantly; almost afraid to hear her explanation.

"All of the people who have fallen into comas so far were once wielders of the Millennium Items. I don't think that this is a coincidence. And if this continues..." Ishizu explained; her voice trailing off.

Marik immediately understood what Ishizu was implying. But there were still a lot of things that didn't make sense.

"But if you are saying that someone is actually stealing the souls of all of the former Millennium Item holders, then why are they doing it in the first place? We don't have any powers without them, so wouldn't it make more sense to just excavate the items themselves? And how would they even be able to find Shadi? He is, well,...dead!" Marik said.

"I do not know. But if this pattern continues, then whoever is behind all of this will eventually come for both you and I, Marik. We need to do something." Ishizu said firmly.

Marik felt sick. He hadn't thought that he would need to worry about becoming a victim himself. The Yami Marik problem was already bad enough, but this was just too much.

"But what can we do!? We don't have any powers anymore, and it seems like these people can get through anything! After all, not just anyone can get past Pegasus' security team, but they made it look like child's play!" Marik said anxiously.

"We should go to Egypt for a while. That way, I can contact the government's security forces. They should be able to help us until we can solve this mystery." Ishizu said.

Marik grimaced as he remembered the time that his sister had unleashed those very same forces against him and the Rare Hunters back when he had been trying to steal all of the God Cards. Since they had easily fallen victim to his Millennium Rod, Marik didn't have much hope that they would fare any better against a whole team of soul stealers.

Odion must have sensed Marik's unease, because he then spoke up. "No matter what, I promise that I won't let any harm befall either of you. We're a family, and that is not something that can change because of the actions of some cowardly evildoers." Odion said firmly.

After exchanging a look between each other, Marik, Ishizu, and Odion nodded their heads in agreement.  
xxx

A few hours later, Marik, Ishizu, and Odion had left the house after packing a few belongings to take with them to Egypt. But they had decided to take a quick detour to the shopping center in Domino City before leaving for the airport to board their flight to Egypt that Ishizu had booked after their conversation in the kitchen.

Feeling depressed, Marik walked aimlessly around the men's clothing department; not searching for anything in particular. Other than a mother with a crying toddler and a man wearing a hoodie and sunglasses who was admiring some polo shirts, Marik was alone. He looked again at the last text message that Kelda had sent him earlier that day: **I think that I'm finally ready to start building my deck! Pay day was today, so I thought that we'd go to that new card shop a couple of blocks from me. What do you say!?** Marik hadn't answered. He felt horrible about it, but it would be safer if no one knew where they were going. As much as he hated it, Marik knew that the brief peace in his life was now over. It was time to go back to the world of dangerous magic and evil body-possessing psychopaths.

xxx  
"Unfortunately, it appears that we still have a few hours until our flight is ready." Ishizu explained to Marik and Odion after she returned to the airport's waiting area from the front desk.

"Maybe we should get something to eat? There was a coffee shop back over that way." Marik suggested as he pointed towards the western hallway.

xxx  
There was not much conversation between the three Ishtar siblings as they quietly sipped their coffee at the small airport cafe. Aside from them, there weren't many customers. Just a few random couples and a man with sunglasses and a hoodie who was reading a book.

Marik thought vaguely about their return to Egypt. Their move to Japan had been a way for him to have a fresh start away from all of the bad memories about his father's abuse. This just felt like a step backwards into all of the misery that they had endured back then.

xxx  
After they had left the cafe, there was still some time to kill before the flight was announced, so Marik and the others decided to browse around in the gift shop for a while. Marik was looking at some T-shirts; wondering if there was possibly a safe way to send Kelda a souvenir. As he turned towards the counter, he was surprised to see another man with sunglasses and a hoodie.

"Is that a new style or something!?" Marik said quietly to himself. With a jolt, he realized that this was the third time that he had seen this particular ensemble today. What if it was the same man!? Given their present circumstances, this couldn't be a coincidence. And the fact that Marik had already seen this man before they were even at the airport only made him feel more suspicious.

After finding Odion, Marik whispered to him, "See that? I think that we might have a problem... That's the third time today that I've seen him."

Odion made his way over to their possible stalker as indiscreetly as he could.

"Is there a problem?" Odion asked Mr. Sunglasses in a tone of voice that sounded more like a warning than anything else.

"Uh, no... I was just looking at these paperweights, dude! I swear!" The man said nervously. He was clearly intimidated by Odion's towering height.

Without another word, Odion rejoined Marik and Ishizu at the counter. He silently mouthed the words, "time to go" to them.

xxx  
After they had left the gift shop, Marik and the others were just about to enter the room with the gate for their flight when they saw something that made them stop in their tracks. The waiting area was flooded with black-cloaked figures. Just what had happened to everyone else in the airport?

"We can't let them see us. This way!" Ishizu said as she quickly turned back towards the hallway; Marik and Odion following as quickly as they could.

After only going a few steps down the hallway, the trio found their way blocked by two more cloaked men. Marik also noticed that about three more were already chasing them back from the way that they had came.

"Let us pass!" Ishizu commanded firmly. Despite how terrifying their current situation was, Marik knew that his sister was a strong woman who would try to stand up against an adversary for as long as she could.

"Sorry, but that's not going to happen! Since you guys knew enough to try to escape beforehand, then you must know what we're after! Now be good and let us do our work!" One of the men said in amusement. Marik noticed that he was holding a strange, metal device in his right hand.

Without warning, Odion lunged toward the man and punched him in the face so hard that he fell to the ground, out cold.

"Marik, Ishizu! You have to run now while I hold them off!" Odion shouted as he grappled with the second man.

"Stay out of this! We have no business with you!" The second man yelled at Odion angrily as he attempted to fight him off.

Before Marik could even attempt to reply to Odion, Ishizu grabbed his hand and practically dragged him away as she started to run again. Trying his best to ignore the sound of more punches being thrown, Marik ran along with her. He knew that they had to trust Odion for now and attempt to escape. Because if their pursuers got even one minute, he had a feeling that they would use that strange device to steal their souls. Then there wouldn't be any way for them to help Odion.

It wasn't long before Marik and Ishizu were ambushed again. This time, Marik had a horrible feeling that their luck had finally run out.

"Alright, that's it now! It's useless to try to escape!" The man said impatiently as he reached into his pocket for the soul-stealing device.

"Why are you doing this!? It can't possibly benefit anyone for this to happen! Does this have anything to do with the Millennium Items!?" Ishizu questioned frantically. Marik could tell that she was trying to buy more time by keeping the conversation going. But he didn't think that that would work. He knew that he had to try to fight, but his feet didn't seem to want to move.

"That's for us to know. Now, as they say, ladies first!" The man said mockingly.

Before Marik could even move, the man took out a small bag and threw the contents of it over Ishizu. A blast of golden light encircled her. After that, he used the metal device to bring forth a beam of light that quickly sucked up the light around Ishizu.

"NO!" A shout came from behind Marik, revealing that Odion had finally caught up with them. He quickly knocked out the man before he could do anything to Marik.

For a split second, Ishizu looked at Marik and Odion; her hand stretched out towards them. She then fell to the ground with a vacant expression in her eyes.

For a moment, neither Marik or Odion could speak. Then, Marik let out a wail of despair.

"ISHIZU!" Marik yelled in agony. He felt an unbearable surge of anger and sadness take hold of him. His head throbbed with pain, and Marik had to hold it in both of his hands just to be able to stand it. As he started to shake uncontrollably, Marik recognized the terrifying sensation that he was experiencing. He was starting to lose control of himself again. Marik felt a ringing in his ears as heard Yami Marik cheering inside of his head; his voice sounding clearer than it had in a long time.

Odion placed his hands firmly on Marik's shoulders and forced him to look into his eyes.

"Marik! We have to leave now!" Odion said urgently.

"No! I'll kill those bastards right now!" Marik said viciously. His voice was slightly distorted and his facial expression was twisted with rage. Then, as quickly as it had happened, Marik seemed to recover himself. He stared down at Ishizu's unconscious form; unable to say anything else.

Looking truly alarmed now, Odion quickly grabbed Marik's hand and started to run.

After a short distance, Marik and Odion reached a door with a lighted exit sign above it. But before they could open it, they heard the sound of several pairs of feet chasing after them down the the other end of the hallway.

Odion turned to Marik. "You must escape while I hold them off. It should buy you enough time to lose them." He told Marik firmly.

"No! I can't just leave you! And we have to save Ishizu!" Marik argued.

"I will make sure that she is safe. But you need to leave while you still can! I will catch up with you later, I promise!" Odion insisted as the footsteps came even closer.

"But-" Marik started to protest.

"GO!" Odion shouted as he pushed the door open and practically pushed Marik outside.

xxx

Hours later, Marik sat by himself miserably inside a bleak motel room. He had pushed all of the furniture in the room against the doorway to deter his pursuers if they found him. Even so, Marik also kept glancing at the window; half-expecting someone to come up to it on a ladder and break through the window.

Marik couldn't seem to remember everything that had happened after he had fled from the airport. What had happened to Odion!? What if he had been killed!? And then there was Ishizu... How had everything fallen apart so quickly!? Marik had been tempted to call Odion to find out if he was alright and tell him where he was staying. But he knew that it wasn't safe for him to use any type of phone now. Marik had a feeling that the mystery men would be trying to trace his location in any way that they could. Some distance before the hotel, Marik had performed a factory data reset on his cellphone, and then had quickly smashed it and thrown it away in a trash can. He only hoped that that would be enough...

Unable to calm himself down, Marik started to pace restlessly around the small bedroom area.

 **"Marik."** A voice spoke so quietly that Marik almost hadn't heard it. Surely there couldn't be anyone in here with him!? The door was blocked, and Marik had specifically told the motel manager that he did not want to see any guests.

 **"Marik, it's me. Don't tell me that you have already forgotten about me?"** Yami Marik said in amusement.

"Please, no! Not now!" Marik begged.

Yami Marik chuckled. **"Look over here. Towards the left."** He commanded.

Marik's eyes searched the left side of the room frantically. It wasn't until he looked at the long, full-length mirror that Marik noticed what his dark side had wanted him to see. Instead of seeing his own regular reflection in the mirror, Marik now saw Yami Marik grinning evilly at him.

 **"Surprised to see me? You shouldn't be after all of the excitement today!"** Yami Marik said.

"Leave me alone! You're not taking control of me again!" Marik said angrily.

 **"Oh, but I already have! How else do you think that you were able to escape from those fools!? I would say that you should be thanking me, but that would be stretching the truth quite a bit since I'm going to find a way to kill you anyway."** Yami Marik said.

"If you really did take over, then why am I in control right now!?" Marik demanded.

 **"It seems as if my time is more...limited than I would like. At least for now, that is."** Yami Marik explained with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"I still don't believe you." Marik said.

 **"Then let me show you."** Yami Marik said.

Suddenly, Marik found himself lost inside of a memory. Just like that, Marik witnessed what had happened right after he had made it outside of the airport. He saw himself lose it completely as Yami Marik took control of his body. Two of the men caught up with him then. It didn't take long for the predators to become the prey as Yami Marik charged towards them with a speed that seemed almost inhuman. He didn't need the Millennium Rod to kill people, and he proved that by simply snapping the men's necks.

After the memory ended, Marik felt sick. "You killed them!" He accused Yami Marik fiercely.

 **"Yes, and it was so exhilarating! It's been too long since I've had that much fun!"** Yami Marik said in delight.

"But you can't do that! It's wrong!" Marik argued.

 **"Don't act so self-righteous. You're just as responsible for this as I am. After all, you're the one who created me. They died by your own two hands!"** Yami Marik taunted. Marik couldn't help wincing as his guilt from the past consumed him again.

"But why didn't you just let them take my soul? Then you would have full control of this body!" Marik said in frustration.

 **"It is certainly worth looking into once I've found out a bit more from them. But for now, I can't just assume that it wouldn't affect me as well. But why are you even asking me this? In a hurry to join our poor sister!?"** Yami Marik sneered.

"No..." Marik said as the memory of losing Ishizu replayed again in his head.

 **"Well, she's as good as dead now. I wonder how long the doctors would be able to pump life into her empty shell of a body before it expired? That is, if it was even found. That poor fool Odion was probably killed as he tried to play the hero!"** Yami Marik said happily.

"Please, just stop! I can't take it anymore!" Marik pleaded.

 **"Sorry, Marik! But I am only just getting started! I finally found a pathway to freedom again, and nothing will stand in my way this time! But I don't want to work on getting rid of you just yet. I will prolong your suffering! And I plan on having a LOT more fun than I did today!"** Yami Marik said excitedly.

"Nooo!" Marik said fearfully.

 **"Yes! Say goodbye to everything you hold dear! No more dreams, no more hope! The darkness is here to stay! Ah, ha, ha, ha! AH, HA, HA, HA!"** Yami Marik vowed as he burst into a fit of insane laughter.

Crying silently, Marik curled up into a ball on the floor and covered his ears to block out Yami Marik's voice; praying for the nightmare to end...

 **Author's note: Sorry that it took me so long to update this. Whether it is reviews, or just views, thank you for all of your support, everyone! I feel like this has sort of turned into some kind of Yami Marik horror show, and I hope that it is still okay so far. Maybe I went too far at the end? XD I swear that this is all going somewhere, and that I am not just deliberately torturing Marik. XD Thanks for reading!**


	6. Chapter 6

"Are you sure that you haven't heard anything?" Kelda asked Amber for what seemed like the fifth time that day.

"I already told you, Rika said that he hasn't been to school for a week now. And trust me, she would notice if Domino High's best-looking guy was still there or not! She keeps tabs on the ones with the goods!" Amber insisted.

It was Sunday afternoon, and Kelda had invited Amber to the store in the hopes of finding out via her Domino High School friends whether Marik was even still attending classes or not. Throughout the whole week, Marik had simply stopped returning Kelda's phone calls and text messages. In fact, his number was not even in service anymore. Kelda felt both sad and worried. Why would Marik suddenly decide to just drop out of existence without a single word of warning to her? Had his family decided to move, or was it something else? The rational part of Kelda that seemed to be in charge nearly all of the time believed that Marik really had just moved and nothing more. But after all of her conversations with him, her strange suspicions about his past, and even her grandmother's bizarre reaction to him, Kelda also couldn't help wondering if there was something more unusual going on here.

"Hey, I totally get why you're all bummed out about this. I mean, if I was the girlfriend of the world's hottest guy like you (hopefully) still are, and he just did a vanishing act, I'd be on my third carton of comfort ice cream last week!" Amber said.

"While all of that sounds very sympathetic coming from you, I don't remember ever saying that Marik was my boyfriend." Kelda said.

"Oh, come on! You've been spending what little free time you have on him for weeks now! You can't tell me that absolutely nothing has been going on between the two of you! What about the dates and rides into the sunset with him on his motorcycle? Where is the romance!?" Amber pressed excitedly.

"It's not like that at all. Marik is just a friend that hangs out with me sometimes so that we can study and talk about dueling. And even if I wanted it to be more than that, it would never happen. I can't even get him to talk about himself for over five minutes! He's just too...mysterious!" Kelda explained in frustration.

Amber nodded sympathetically. "I see. So it's that kind of deal. I hope that Marik comes back, though. Until then, I guess I'll just have to settle for looking at these luscious pics of him that Rika managed to take and share with me before he decided to split." She said while idly scrolling her finger down the screen of her cellphone.

Kelda immediately snatched Amber's phone out of her hands. "Just what are you doing with these!?" She demanded while furiously going through the photo gallery only to find various candid shots of Marik in his school uniform; unable to prevent herself from pausing briefly to admire his striking good looks in each photo.

Amber laughed. "Look at Ms. "We're just friends!" now! I knew that you liked him!" She teased Kelda triumphantly.

"That's not the issue here! You and Rika shouldn't even have these! I mean, it's not like you had Marik's permission to do this!" Kelda argued.

Amber casually took her phone out of Kelda's hands. "Oh, come on! It's all good. He's decent in all of these, anyway. Check out the one I'm using for my home screen now!" Amber said as she switched to her phone's home screen to reveal it's background of a photo of Marik casually leafing through a book in what was probably the school library at Domino High.

"But it's...wrong." Kelda protested weakly.

Amber shrugged. "Only if Marik finds out and complains about it himself. Now, want to help me decide which one I should use for my lock screen!?" She asked excitedly.

Kelda sighed helplessly. "I give up." She said in defeat.  
xxx

A couple of hours after Amber had left, Kelda was still sitting at the kitchen table; trying to concentrate on her homework. She angrily wadded up a third sheet of paper and shoved it towards the other side of the table.

"Are you still having problems with your homework? At least give erasers a fighting chance before you resort to a mass waste of resources!" Marissa said as she walked into the kitchen.

"Sorry. I just can't seem to figure out the formula here." Kelda said sheepishly.

"I think we both know that that isn't the real problem here." Marissa said gently.

When Kelda didn't reply, Marissa continued to speak. "You have been miserable ever since Marik left, and I know how hard it is for you. But you have to understand that this was inevitable. That boy is possessed by a dark and dangerous presence, and he probably had to leave just to ensure the safety of others, including you." She explained.

Kelda groaned impatiently. She was sick and tired of hearing her grandmother's evil spirit possession theory.

"So what are you saying? That Marik is out pillaging villages or something else equally ridiculous? Be serious! There is absolutely nothing wrong with him!" Kelda argued.

"You may not believe me, but Marik has confessed to me himself about his other half. He would know better than anyone else." Marissa said.

Kelda's heart sank. _So Marik is crazy. Just great! You sure know how to pick 'em, Kelda!_ She thought to herself sarcastically. Kelda couldn't come up with any other possible explanation as to why Marik would willingly choose to believe in her grandmother's mystical mumbo-jumbo. But despite her scepticism, Kelda couldn't help remembering how Marik had looked and acted in those awful YouTube videos from the Battle City tournament. What if there really was something going on with Marik that was out of the ordinary?

 _No! I can't let myself start thinking like that!_ Kelda thought to herself firmly.

"Well, either way, it doesn't look like he's planning on coming back anytime soon. So we might as well just forget about this. I'm going for a walk." Kelda said abruptly. She was hoping that some fresh air would help her to re-focus on what was really important right now.

Marissa sighed sadly to herself. "Alright. Be back soon, though." She said.

xxx

As Kelda walked through the now-quiet city streets, she reflected back on the recent events in her life. While it was true that Marik's unexplained absence still weighed heavily on her mind, there was also another problem that had come to Kelda's attention just last week. It had been a normal workday at the shop, until Kelda had made the mistake of picking up the phone at the same time as Marissa. Since every house-phone in their home shared the same line, it was something that happened every once in awhile. However, Kelda had not been prepared for the conversation that she had decided to eavesdrop on.

Begin flashback:

 _"Hello, Oracle's Mirror! Where we see all! Well, uh, except for the identities of any potential customers who call us, since we can't read auras over the phone! But still! How can I help you?" Marissa answered cheerfully._

 _There was a brief pause on the other end of the line. "Marissa, it's me." Answered a deep, male voice. Kelda couldn't pinpoint the type of emotion it had, but she was too intrigued to stop listening now._

 _"Well? Aren't you happy to hear from me after all of these years?" The man persisted somewhat impatiently._

 _"Forgive me, but the fact that it has taken you this long to call here has me more than a little suspicious. I'm guessing that you still haven't taken my advice seriously, have you?" Marissa asked coldly._

 _"You know why I can't do that! I didn't have a choice back then, and I still don't now, either!" The man answered with an edge of frustration in his voice._

 _"You and I both know that that is just a poor excuse you are using due to your need to hide from reality. But nevermind that. Why are you calling?" Marissa asked bluntly._

 _"I want you to return Kelda to us. Despite our differences, we're still family. And it's not fair that you have kept her to yourself for all of these years." The man said._

 _"Absolutely not!" Marissa said furiously._

 _"Come on, Marissa. Don't be difficult. I haven't seen Kelda in years. I know that our way of life might be considered a bit...different. But Kelda deserves to know about the rest of her family!" The man said with conviction._

 _"Different!? The life that you live is barely even human! I would never subject Kelda to something like that! She is happy with the life that she has now, and that is all that matters! And need I remind you that the law is on my side here!?" Marissa argued._

 _"I should have known that you would be unreasonable about this. But don't think that I'm giving up yet, Marissa." The man warned ominously before hanging up._

 _Kelda couldn't believe what she had just heard. After all this time of hearing absolutely nothing, could it be possible that her father had suddenly decided to come back into her life!? Kelda didn't feel happy, though. The man on the phone did not sound like the most friendly person in the world. He sounded more like he just believed that Kelda was simply a lost possession to be claimed. And if that was her father, then what about her mother? Was she with him, too? Kelda had so many questions that her head hurt. One thing that she felt certain about was that she would never agree to live with her father._

 _He thinks that he can just walk back into my life as if nothing ever happened!? No! He and mom left me, and I won't go back with them no matter what! Kelda thought to herself furiously.  
_

End flashback

Kelda was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't even notice that there was a person running in her direction at full-speed until they crashed into her; knocking her onto the pavement.

"Oww! Why don't you watch where you're-" Kelda started to say angrily until she noticed who she had bumped into.

"Marik!?" Kelda asked in shock.

"Kelda!? What are you doing here!?" Marik asked in surprise. His eyes were wild and somewhat bloodshot, and his hair was disheveled. It looked as if Marik hadn't slept properly in days.

"Um, I kind of live here, Marik. Remember? Nevermind that, though. What happened to you!? You look awful. And why did you just move away without even telling me!?" Kelda asked.

"No time to explain! We have to hide! They're coming!" Marik said fearfully. He hastily pulled Kelda into a narrow side alley.

Before she could ask Marik anything else about this bizarre turn of events, Kelda spotted three men wearing long, sinister-looking black cloaks with hoods run across the street from the direction that Marik had came from. Thankfully, they did not spot the alley that she and Marik were hiding in, and instead continued on down the street.

Marik breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank Ra that they didn't find us!" He said.

"Why were those men after you, Marik!? Just what is going on!?" Kelda asked anxiously.

"That is a very long story, and I'm afraid that I don't have the time to tell you everything right now. I have to go before they catch up with me again. I'm sorry about all of this, Kelda. But I can't stay here any longer." Marik said.

"Wait! I don't know what kind of trouble you're in, but I can't just leave you alone like this. Come back to my house, Marik. You'll be safe there, and then you can explain everything to me. Please, let me help you!" Kelda begged. She knew that something dangerous was going on here and that she had to help Marik. But it wasn't just that. Kelda had missed Marik more than she had thought was possible. To be able to see him again like this was more than she had hoped for, and she didn't want to say goodbye just yet.

Marik hesitated before answering. "Okay. Thank you. But I can't promise that we will be safe there. They always find me." He warned.

xxx

An hour later, Kelda and Marissa were sitting at the kitchen table in their house while Marik paced nervously back and forth in front of them. He had just finished explaining everything, and Kelda was still having a hard time trying to wrap her head around all of it. An unknown gang of men who were stealing people's souls and leaving them in comas? It made no sense. Even though Kelda knew that something had happened to the people that Marik had mentioned, there had to be a logical explanation for their conditions. Plus, Kelda had the feeling that Marik was leaving something out.

"Marik, I believe that these men are very dangerous and that they are responsible for what happened to those poor people. But you don't need to worry about them finding you now. You are safe here, and we are going to get to the bottom of this mystery! I'm going to call the police. With all of the information you can give them, I'm sure that they will be able to take care of this." Kelda said reassuringly.

Marik let out a humorless laugh. "The police!? There's nothing that they can do about this! They'll just end up the same way or worse! This is beyond what any normal human can deal with! No, those days are over for me now! I shouldn't even be here! It's not safe for you to be around me! No, _I'm_ not safe!" Marik ranted frantically.

Kelda couldn't figure out what Marik had meant in his last sentence. It sounded like he was referring to something else. But what?

Marissa spoke up. "Marik is right. Involving the police will do us no good. I have been following these incidents myself, and I can tell that we are dealing with powers that are beyond our control. I have felt it for awhile now. I don't want to believe it, but it looks like this could be..." Marissa started to say. She then changed her mind; letting her last sentence linger.

"I must consult with the spirits about this. They should be able to provide us with some leads. After all, things are changing on their side as well. Ones that should not be here have returned..." Marissa said worriedly.

For a moment, Marik looked like he wanted to ask Marissa more about her cryptic statement. It was as if her words held some sort of significance to him. But at the last minute, he seemed changed his mind and decided to let his questions go.

"I think that that would be a wise course of action to follow. We need all of the information that we can get." Marik said seriously; acting as if trying to communicate with a bunch of dead people was a completely normal thing to do.

 _Oh, no! Just great! They're both crazy!_ Kelda thought to herself miserably.

"I know that it is terrible of me to ask this of you right now, especially since it would probably place you both in danger. But would it be possible for me to stay here tonight? I promise that I will leave tomorrow. I just feel like this might be easier while we are still trying to find out what we can. Would that be alright with you, Mrs. Hale?" Marik requested politely.

"Of course, dear. I won't let any friend of Kelda's face something like this alone. You're welcome to stay for as long as you need to." Marissa answered gently.

"Thank you for your hospitality. I'll try my best not to inconvenience you both." Marik said as he bowed respectfully to Marissa.

"Since I'm going to be doing a lot of work tonight, you can use my room upstairs, Marik. I usually end up sleeping in the basement anyway. Just ask Kelda to help you find anything that you might need. I'll see you both in the morning. Hopefully with good news." Marissa said.  
xxx

About half an hour later, Marik and Kelda were looking around Marissa's bedroom, both at a loss for words. The room was even more cluttered than the basement, if that was even possible. But the real problem was the window. No matter how hard they pulled on it, it just wouldn't close all of the way.

"Jeez. I didn't know that it was THIS bad. If I had to guess, I would say that grandma hasn't set foot in this room for at least a year! This isn't going to work. Since those people have already climbed up buildings just to get to you, then this would make things a little too easy for them!" Kelda said.

"It's okay. I could always just stay in the hallway or something." Marik suggested.

"Don't be ridiculous. I know a better place. Just follow me." Kelda said.

After a short walk down the hallway, Kelda stopped and opened another door.

"Wait a minute. Is this your room!? I can't stay here!' Marik said awkwardly.

"Look, I know it seems a bit...weird. But I think that you would be safer here if anything did happen. I could at least try to help fend those guys off or stall for time. And if they don't come in through here, then we can use this window to escape ourselves. There is some sort of ladder-thing built into the side here." Kelda explained hurriedly; her face bright red.

 _Ishizu is going to kill me if she ever finds out about this._ Marik thought to himself wryly.

"Okay, I'll stay. I do feel kind of better not staying alone right now." Marik admitted.

"Okay. Just let me some spare blankets and pillows for you. Even with the rug, the floor is not the most comfortable place to be." Kelda said as she started to leave the room.

"Oh, and whatever you do, don't touch anything in here! Because believe me, I'll know if you do, and you won't like what would happen after that!" Kelda warned Marik. He had to stifle a laugh at the expression on her face. If Kelda was trying to appear threatening, she was failing miserably, because Marik just found her to be cute more than anything else right now.

"Don't worry! I won't touch anything. I am here for self-preservation after all." Marik said with a smile.

xxx

A few hours later, Marik tossed around restlessly on the floor; the blankets a tangled mess. Even after talking to Kelda for awhile, he still couldn't make himself fall asleep. He was too afraid of what could happen if he was not completely ready to flee at a moment's notice.

"Still can't sleep?" Kelda asked quietly from the other end of the room.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to keep you up." Marik apologized.

"It doesn't matter. I can't sleep, either." Kelda admitted ruefully. She switched on her nightstand lamp and sat up in bed.

"I just feel like I won't ever find any real peace in my life. I have tried so hard to set things right again. And right when it seemed to be working, it all fell apart again... I shouldn't be putting you in danger like this. Not when I can't even protect myself." Marik said.

Kelda walked over to Marik and sat down next to him on the floor.

"Look, Marik. I don't know what has happened to you in the past. But I really don't think that it helps to dwell on what went wrong before. From what I understand so far, this is a completely separate issue. We will find a way to solve this, I promise. No one even knows that you would choose to come here, so I don't think that we have to worry about those cult weirdos breaking in. But no matter what, I'm going to help you, because that is what friends do." Kelda said firmly. She took Marik's hands in her own and looked directly at him.

For a moment, Marik did not know what to say. He just stared down at their linked hands; not sure of just what he was feeling right now.

"Thanks. I think I feel a little better now. You're probably right. I should be safe here for now. I've gotten out of worse situations than this, so I'm going to try to believe that I can do the same thing here once we have a real plan. I'll try to go back to sleep now. Goodnight, Kelda." Marik said.

Kelda reluctantly let go of Marik's hands and went back to the other side of the room.

"Okay. I'll see you in the morning, Marik." She said.

Marik let himself relax as he settled back down into his nest of blankets on the floor. It was hard to believe that anything bad could happen in this comfortable little house, where the only sounds that could be heard were a few cars passing by on the street below and a light rain against the window. Surely, nothing could go wrong here...

xxx

A few hours later, Marik awoke with a jolt to the sound of loud, insistent pounding that seemed to be coming from the front door downstairs. It sounded as if someone was trying to knock the door off of it's hinges with a gigantic sledgehammer.

 _Oh, no! I knew this was a bad idea! They've found me again!_ Marik thought to himself in terror.

Kelda was already awake and scrambling to get out of bed. Marik wasn't surprised. After all, the noise coming from downstairs was loud enough to wake the dead.

"We have to get out of here! Now!" Marik said urgently as he pried open the window.

"But grandma is still down there! I can't just leave her!" Kelda argued frantically.

"You can't go down there right now, Kelda! They might decide to take you as a hostage just to get to me! Going by that idea, they probably won't do anything to hurt Marissa, and we can come back to check on things. But right now, we need to escape while we still can!" Marik urged Kelda.

Before Kelda could argue any further, Marik grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her towards the window.

"Marik, I'm not leaving without grandma! She's the only family I have! I'm going back!" Kelda insisted. Her words were followed by an earsplitting crash as the front door was finally broken down.

"No, you will not. Now do as I say and go!" Marik commanded fiercely. In that moment, he sounded unusually dangerous to Kelda. It was almost as if Marik himself hadn't been doing the talking.

Without any further protests, Kelda started to hastily climb out of the window, with Marik close behind her. Once they reached the ground, they took off running and didn't look back.

xxx

The next day, Kelda and Marik were sitting in a cramped storage room of a department store while they went over everything that had happened since yesterday. Kelda had made a brief trip back to her house alone about an hour earlier to see if Marissa was there. Not only had the entire house appear as if it had been ransacked, but there was also no sign of Marissa anywhere. Either she had fled, or she had gotten kidnapped during the break-in.

"It just doesn't make any sense! They had no way of knowing that we are friends, and if they did, then why didn't they just wait at the house to begin with!?" Marik asked himself frustratedly.

Kelda had been wondering about the same thing herself. Those men were certainly capable of breaking into any place, day or night. So why wait for hours to do it? Suddenly, a horrible idea came to her.

"Oh, no! Why didn't I see this coming earlier!? They weren't trying to get you, Marik!" Kelda said.

"What are you talking about!? Of course they were!" Marik said.

"No, you don't understand! That was dad!" Kelda blurted out.

"Dad? I thought that you said that lost contact with your parents years ago!" Marik said in confusion.

"I know, but last week, I listened in on grandma's phone conversation by accident, and there was this weird guy. He kept going on about wanting to take me back to live with him and meet mom and the rest of my family. Grandma got really mad and told him no. And then he said that she hadn't heard the last of him yet. I bet that he broke in last night and kidnapped her so that he can use her to get to me!" Kelda explained fearfully.

Marik looked thoughtful for a moment. "I suppose that we can't rule that out as a possibility... But either way, it is still dangerous for us now." He said.

"What am I going to do now!? I can't go back home, and I don't have anywhere else to go. I don't want to get turned over to the authorities for not having a legal guardian!" Kelda said in despair.

"Then you're just like me... Kelda, I can't even begin to apologize for the mess I have gotten you and your grandmother into. But if you really want to, you can stay with me while I try to find a way out of it. But it is going to be dangerous. The first thing we have to do is find just who these people are and why they are doing this. It will be hard, but I believe that we can do it if we work together. There are still a lot of things that I haven't told you yet. Things that you probably won't believe. But if you want to stay with me, then you have to understand that there is no "normal" anymore. In fact, it's been like that for pretty much all of my life now." Marik explained.

To Marik's surprise, Kelda a small smile formed on Kelda's face. "Please. You are talking about normal to the person who gives fake fortunes to people for a living and has a grandmother who talks to ghosts in a basement everyday! Normal is not exactly how I would describe my life, either!" She said.

"Okay, then. Let's try to do what we can!" Marik said in what he hoped was a confident voice. He and Kelda shook hands and smiled at each other.

Despite their newfound commitment, Marik was still worried. He shouldn't be placing Kelda in danger like this. It wasn't just his pursuers that he was afraid of. He was even more worried about what could happen if Yami Marik took control of him again if they were caught. He didn't want anyone else to die, and he knew that he shouldn't risk exposing Kelda to his other half. But Marik's loneliness was clouding his judgement. He was being selfish, and he knew it. But at that moment, while he held Kelda's hand in his while they both smiled at each other, Marik didn't care about anything else.

 **Author's note: Sorry for the long absence between updates here. For some reason, this chapter was really hard for me to write. I'd like to say thank you to all of the new people who have favorited, followed, reviewed, and read this while I was still working on this chapter! And to everyone before that, of course. XD You guys are the best!**


	7. Chapter 7

Marik's hands shook as they held onto the newspaper that he was reading. Of course, he had already known that it had happened. But reading about it like this… The article was yet another "dueling disease" coma victim hotspot story. And this time, his sister had taken the front page. According to it, Ishizu Ishtar had been found at the Domino City Airport in the same condition as the others were. The doctors at the hospital she had been taken to were just as puzzled with her condition as they were with the others. After the initial report, the article had then gone into Ishizu's background a little bit. Besides pointing out that she was also yet another participant in a past major Duel Monsters' tournament, it also noted her work as a curator at the Domino City Museum, along with the famous Egyptian exhibit that she had hosted. It even mentioned how Ishizu had organized a "Kids' Day" a few days of each month at the museum where she would take the time to teach children about Egyptian mythology and past historical discoveries. Marik remembered how much his sister had always enjoyed those days at work more than any others. But now she was gone… Aside from everything else, the article failed to make any mention whatsoever about Odion. For all he knew, he might not even be alive now. But it hadn't failed to mention that Marik himself was now missing.

Marik didn't want to think about just how much time Ishizu and the others might have left if they remained in their current state. He felt chilled to the bone whenever he recalled Yami Marik's taunt to him about wondering just how long Ishizu could survive on life support. Marik felt like he had to do _something_ about all of this. He was sick of continually running and hiding. But the question was: what exactly _could_ he do to stop all of this?

"Is that-?" Kelda's question trailed off mid-sentence. Even though she already knew that it was Marik's sister, she was not quite sure how to finish what she was saying.

"Yes…" Marik answered somberly.

"I'm sorry, Marik… Up until this point, I guess I just hadn't wanted to truly believe what was happening here. But after seeing this…" Kelda admitted.

"Back at the airport, Ishizu sacrificed herself so that I could get away. If it wasn't for her, I probably wouldn't be here right now. And yet I can't do a thing to help her. Some brother I am." Marik said frustratedly.

"Hey, we've been over this before. It wasn't your fault, Marik. Not anymore than it was for the others who are friends of the victims like Tea and Joey. And… I know that there probably wasn't much that I could have done for Grandma before they took her. You were the one who helped me to realize that. They wouldn't have wanted any of us to put ourselves in danger against whatever it is we are up against. It's nothing a children's card game can solve this time, that's for sure!" Kelda explained to make Marik feel better.

"Yeah, I guess you're right…" Marik agreed glumly.

Suddenly, an idea came to Marik. He wasn't sure how the _exact_ idea had formed, but it was as if Kelda's mention of a "children's card game" had turned a light on in his head.

"That's it!" Marik said excitedly.

"What's it? What are you talking about?" Kelda asked in confusion. Yet at the same time, the sudden lift in Marik's mood was starting to bring back a trace of what they had not felt in almost a month now: hope.

"I have an idea. It might not be the solution that we are looking for, but it's a start. When you mentioned Duel Monsters, I realized what we may be able to use to our advantage." Marik explained determinedly.

"Um, okay. I think? But what do you mean?" Kelda asked curiously.

"You'll see. But we have to get going now. It's a store not too far from here." Marik said.

"Whatever you think can help us, I'm all for." Kelda agreed.

Xxx

After about ten minutes, Marik and Kelda had reached their destination: A small, shabby looking used bookstore shoved almost unnoticeably between the popular coffee shop and laundromat of the storefronts in downtown Domino. The slightly faded lettering built into the building above the doorway read, "Travis' Treasures to Trash".

"I'm afraid that I'm a bit confused…" Kelda trailed off skeptically.

"It's not what it looks like. I know the owner and let's just say that he specializes in things that are a bit…out of the ordinary, for lack of a better description. But before we go in, I just want to warn you that we may go over some things that will sound a bit perplexing to you. But it is nothing dangerous, I promise." Marik explained.

"Out of the ordinary? Please. You forget that you are talking to someone who has worked at a store where we claim to read people's futures and communicate with _ghosts_. I think I can handle this." Kelda said resolutely. Without another word, she proceeded to open the shop's front door.

Once they were inside, Kelda gazed around the shop's interior. From the inside, it looked like a perfectly normal used bookstore, just messier. Shelves were packed from floor-to-ceiling with old hardcovers with cracked and weathered spines, along with the careworn yellowing paperbacks. Whatever hadn't been able to fit onto the shelves was scattered around the store in piles on top of the tables or thrown loosely into overflowing cardboard boxes on the floor.

Behind the counter sat a short, plump bespectacled man with brown, balding hair. He had been busy jotting something down in a notebook, but he looked up when Marik and Kelda approached the counter.

"Marik! What a surprise to see you around these parts! What brings you here? This hardly seems the place you'd want to take a lady on for part of a date. Unless she's into old literature!" The store owner joked. Kelda felt herself redden at his words.

"Travis, good to see you again. I wish we were here for leisure, but I'm afraid that it couldn't be further from the case this time." Marik greeted Travis with a somewhat grim smile.

Travis' smile faltered at hearing Marik's words. "I take it this is serious. What happened to you? It said that you had gone missing in the news, and yet here you are right in town." He said.

"I'm afraid that I can't go into any details, but to make a long story short, let's just say that I am now the prime target of some very undesirable individuals, and I now require your assistance." Marik answered.

"So, all of that stuff I've been hearing is true… This wouldn't have anything to do with the Rar-" Travis started to say.

"No, no. It's not that. I'd be able to tell if it was. At least I'm pretty sure of that." Marik cut in quickly.

"Okay. Then what can I do for you, Marik?" Travis offered, suddenly all business.

"I'm going to need your best three fifty-four triple O. And two eight twenty-seven HRs, small size. Oh, and I guess a couple pairs of A-fits while you're at it. Do you happen to have any in stock right now?" Marik said quickly. It sounded as if he were a spy in some detective show speaking in code.

"I sure do. Wait just a minute." Travis said as he made his way to the small room behind the counter.

When he returned a few minutes later, Travis was carrying some small, unrecognizable electronic devices along with two ordinary pairs of black leather gloves.

"You're all set." Travis said.

"Good. Thanks, Travis. I hate to ask this, but would it be alright if I made out a temporary partial IOU for these items? We're running a bit low on cash right now and I wouldn't want anyone tracing my credit card information back to us through any transactions that I participate in. I'll pay you back the rest as soon as I can, I promise." Marik asked somewhat nervously as he started to take a few bills out of his pockets.

Travis shook his head. "You don't need to worry about that, Marik. This is on the house." He reassured him.

"Are you sure?" Marik asked in amazement.

"Look, we had an operation before, but this is different. You're in trouble, and I don't want to see everything get flushed down the toilet for you after you've finally managed to go straight. I mean look at you! Going to school, and you even have a girl now! Not many people are able to turn their lives around after they've gotten in as deep as you did, kid. I'd hate to see it all be for nothing." Travis insisted.

"It's not like that! But I appreciate this all the same. Thank you, Travis." Marik said shortly, feeling more than a little embarrassed by Travis' implications.

Xxx

Once they were outside, Kelda turned to Marik. "Okay, just what in the world was all that about?" She asked.

"What do you mean?" Marik stalled.

"What do you think I mean!? All of your secret code mumbo-jumbo spy talk! That and the things you got there make it look like you're either a secret government agent or in the mafia! And just what did he mean about you "going straight"? I'm sorry Marik, but you can't pretend that that whole exchange back there wasn't more than a little bit shady-looking." Kelda said.

"It's too long a story for right now and you wouldn't-" Marik started to say before Kelda interrupted him.

"No. I don't want to hear that this time, Marik. I can tell that there are things that you have not been telling me about yourself and I'm tired of it. I have already told you about me, so it's time that you did the same. We need to trust each other if we're going to get out of this mess." Kelda insisted.

Marik sighed inwardly. He had already known that he wouldn't be able to put this off forever with everything that was happening. But he had at least hoped that he could have had a little more time.

"If I tell you, you may not want to have anything to do with me anymore. Although that may be for the best in terms of your own safety, I will admit that it's also the reason why I've been afraid of telling you. Just know that I won't be angry with you whatever you decide to do, Kelda." Marik said.

"If you're afraid of me leaving, don't be. I'm your friend, and friends don't judge. They try to understand. So, whatever it is, don't worry." Kelda reassured Marik.

Marik couldn't stop himself from giving Kelda a small smile. He suddenly felt a little more hopeful.

"Alright. This is hard to explain, but I guess I'll start with something familiar. Remember when the Battle City tournament was first organized and the problems with it?" Marik asked.

"Yeah. You mean the Rare Hunters, right? They stole a lot of cards from duelists then. I remember how big a deal it was since they had managed to sneak in past Kaiba Corp." Kelda recalled.

"They didn't have to sneak in quite as hard as you think. Most people don't know this, but one of the reasons Battle City itself was started was to lure them out into the open. It was bait, and both heads on either side knew it." Marik explained.

"What!? You mean that Kaiba Corp. started it already knowing that they were putting duelists in danger like that!? But why!?" Kelda asked, horrified with this revelation.

"Because there were special cards at stake. Both Seto Kaiba and the Rare Hunters had possession of these cards, and they wanted a way to duel to regain the rest for themselves." Marik answered.

"I take it you are referring to the Egyptian god cards that were used during the finals. I remember that you had one during the finals. But if only Kaiba and the Rare Hunters owned them during the tournament, then how did you and Yugi even manage to get them? Did you both have to duel the Rare Hunters for them?" Kelda asked. She suddenly had a bad feeling about where this all was going.

"You're half right. Yugi won Slifer in a duel with one. But I already had mine from the start of the tournament." Marik said simply.

"From the start? Marik, are you saying that you were…a member of the Rare Hunters?" Kelda asked carefully.

"Close, but not quite. Think…bigger." Marik answered.

"Bigger? Marik, you don't mean…" Kelda trailed off, too shocked to finish her sentence.

"Yes. I was the leader of the Rare Hunters. I formed the organization to find the Egyptian god cards." Marik admitted.

"But that doesn't make any sense! How does a high school student end up being able to become the head of a major criminal organization!? And why did you do it in the first place!?" Kelda demanded, unable to wrap her mind around these impossible revelations.

"More long stories, I'm afraid. And they will sound even stranger to you than this. To answer your first question without going into details, let's just say that I could be _very_ persuasive when I wanted to be. And as for why I did it? That goes back to a long time ago in my life. A time where I believed that there was no other way to free myself… I've done a lot of terrible things. Things you can't even begin to imagine. Stealing, counterfeiting, forgery, money laundering, kidnapping, probably even murder itself depending on how look at it… You name it, we did it. But please try to understand that I have been trying to make amends for what I've done since Battle City ended. I disbanded the Rare Hunters and returned or replaced all the cards that were stolen. I've been trying to make a fresh start ever since. Yugi and his friends forgave me, and that was more than I could ever hope for. And when I met you, it felt so good having someone who didn't know. It was like a chance to start over. But I should have known that I couldn't bury the past forever…" Marik explained.

For a few minutes, Kelda remained silent. It seemed inconceivable that someone as nice and caring as Marik had been to her could ever have been a criminal mastermind. She had read and heard enough stories about the Rare Hunters back then to know that they were no joke. But at the same time, she could not bring herself to hold any of it against him. Ever since she had first met him, it had always felt like he had been hiding more than a few secrets. And her suspicions had only grown stronger with the recent events they had gone through. She was sure there was more to find out than just this in time. Whenever Kelda had talked to Marik, she almost always felt a sense of fear and dread around him. As if he was always afraid that each conversation could be their last. It all seemed so desperately sad and lonely to her. Kelda knew that she could never hate anyone who lived like this.

"Marik, I'm not going to pretend that this doesn't sound bad. I can't imagine how anyone could justify doing the types of things that you must have done. But I also always had the feeling that something in your past was causing you to suffer. I've seen it in the way you've talked. How you always dodged so many questions or changed the subject. If you were truly a bad person, you wouldn't have been bothered by it at all. I don't know what happened to you back then or about everything you did in the Rare Hunters. But I do believe that you aren't the same as you were back then. It's just like Travis said: You've made a fresh start. And most of all, you've been my friend, and you still are. As far as I'm concerned, the past is past, and I don't have any reason to hate you for it." Kelda explained.

"Kelda… Thank you. I've been so afraid of telling you about any of this. But now I'm glad that I have. There's still a lot more, and it will still take a little more time to get to all of it. But now I know that I have someone I can trust about everything. A true friend." Marik said quietly. He felt as if a weight had been removed from his chest. For a moment, they both simply smiled at each other, enjoying the peace of the moment.

"Well, I'm afraid that we can't stay right here any longer. Thanks to Travis, I have what we need to start investigating this and hopefully buy us some time." Marik said resolutely.

"What exactly are we going to do?" Kelda asked seriously.

"You'll see, Come on. Follow me." Marik said.

xxx

In a dim room, a man wearing a long cloak sat in a room behind a wall of monitor screens, his eyes focused intently on various views of Domino City.

"Master Caleb." A voice behind the man interrupted the silence. He turned to face his underling, another cloaked man who bowed respectfully to him.

"What is it?" Caleb asked.

"Sir, please forgive my interruption. But as per your orders, we have been following Marik Ishtar around the city. However, I'm afraid to say that we have been unable to find the opportune time to make a move against him. He's always moving from place to place, and yet he stays here or close to the area." The underling reported.

"Not good enough! We need to find him!" Caleb said in frustration.

"But sir, are you sure that we don't already have enough to-" The underling started to say before he was cut off.

"No! I've told you a thousand times now, it won't work until we have the souls of _all_ the item wielders! I need his soul, and I need it NOW!" Caleb ranted. He had started pacing back and forth frantically, wringing his hands in frustration.

"Understood, Sir. But your orders were also to make sure that the girl is kept out of harm's way. That may not be easy to accomplish since she's always with him. We're just trying to follow your orders…" The underling said uneasily.

"I know, I know… She changes everything. But it is also all the more reason why we can't continue to let Marik roam free! It's all the same. Just like back then. I can't let things go back to how they were all those years ago. It is just a horribly ironic coincidence that Marik is the last one that we need _and_ the one who is evading us." Caleb fretted.

"Don't worry, Sir. We'll definitely try to-" The underling began.

"Don't just try! DO IT!" Caleb yelled suddenly.

Caleb pulled off his cloak, revealing his bare chest and arms. Every area of his bare skin on them was covered in stitches. The underling flinched a little at the sight.

"Look at me! LOOK AT ME! This is what I have had to suffer through because of Marik! It's all HIS fault that my life has turned out the way it has! Find a way to retrieve his soul and bring it to me so that we can start the ritual, or don't bother coming back at all! Do I make myself clear!?" Caleb demanded lividly.

"Yes, Sir!" The underling answered with a quick bow of his head before leaving through the doorway behind him.

Once he was alone again, Caleb gazed at the screens again. "Marik Ishtar… I won't let you take everything away from me again! You will pay for what you have done to me!" He vowed to himself.

 **AN: For all those who have been reading this story, I am REALLY sorry about the long wait here. Believe me, I didn't intend for this story to go on hiatus for practically two years. I was really busy with school and other life stuff. So, when I ended up getting inspiration for other stories, it just became easier to work on them since the ideas were flowing more easily. I also had a case of writer's block for this particular chapter, which ended up causing me to break it into two parts since it was so long. The other part will be next time. But I am happy to say that I am now able to start updating things a lot more evenly. So, you probably won't need to wait as long for updates on this. Once again, thank you for reading this if you are still taking the time to do so. Also, I sort of got the idea for Travis and store from the TV show, Fringe, if any of you have ever seen that back in the day years ago.**


End file.
